Quotes on Taoism

Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habit.

Men honor what lies within the sphere of their knowledge, but do not realize how dependent they are on what lies beyond it.

If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve

To regard the fundamental as the essence, to regard things as coarse, to regard accumulation as deficiency, and to dwell quietly alone with the spiritual and the intelligent - herein lie the techniques of Tao of the ancients.

The sage knows without traveling, perceives without looking, completes without acting.

Because he (the Sage) opposes no one, no one in the world can oppose him.

The sage does not act and therefore does not fail, does not seize and therefore does not lose.

The sage's Way is to act and not to contend.

The sage is not ill, because he sees illness as illness.

The sage wears coarse clothes, concealing jade.

The sage attends to the belly, and not to what he sees.

He (the Sage) does not show off, therefore he shines.

When the sage stands above people, they are not oppressed. When he leads people, they are not obstructed. The world will exalt him and not grow tired of him.

If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.

Autumn clouds, vague and obscure; The evening, lonely and chill. I felt the dampness on my garments, But saw no spot, and heard no sound of rain.

Praise of power leads to weakness; Love of things leads to loss; The wise one leads by filling people's hearts; He destroys illusion and disturbs those who believe they are wise; He does nothing yet everything happens.

Can you love or guide someone without any kind of expectation?

That which offers no resistance can enter where there is no space.

The Master doesn't seek fulfillment. For only those who are not full are able to be used which brings the feeling of completeness.

Can you step back from your own mind and thus understand all things?

That which offers no resistance, overcomes the hardest substances.