Lao Tzu

Principles · 237 teachings

1. 01Thus it is that firmness and strength are the concomitants of death; softness and weakness, the concomitants of life.
2. 02Who is content Needs fear no shame. Who knows to stop Incurs no blame. From danger free Long live shall he.
3. 03In the Way of Heaven, there is no partiality of love; it is always on the side of the good man.
4. 04Let them not thoughtlessly indulge themselves in their ordinary life; let them not act as if weary of what that life depends on.
5. 05Gravity is the root of lightness; stillness, the ruler of movement.
6. 06The soft overcomes the hard; and the weak the strong.
7. 07There are few in the world who attain to the teaching without words, and the advantage arising from non-action.
8. 08Thus we may see, Who cleaves to fame Rejects what is more great; Who loves large stores Gives up the richer state.
9. 09When the people do not fear what they ought to fear, that which is their great dread will come on them.
10. 10Therefore the place of what is firm and strong is below, and that of what is soft and weak is above.
11. 11Words that are strictly true seem to be paradoxical.
12. 12All-pervading is the Great Tao! It may be found on the left hand and on the right.
13. 13The sage has no invariable mind of his own; he makes the mind of the people his mind.
14. 14It is better to leave a vessel unfilled, than to attempt to carry it when it is full. If you keep feeling a point that has been sharpened, the point cannot long preserve its sharpness.
15. 15My words are very easy to know, and very easy to practise; but there is no one in the world who is able to know and able to practise them.
16. 16Every one in the world knows that the soft overcomes the hard, and the weak the strong, but no one is able to carry it out in practice.
17. 17Constant action overcomes cold; being still overcomes heat. Purity and stillness give the correct law to all under heaven.
18. 18Tao has of all things the most honoured place. No treasures give good men so rich a grace; Bad men it guards, and doth their ill efface.
19. 19Or fame or life, Which do you hold more dear? Or life or wealth, To which would you adhere? Keep life and lose those other things; Keep them and lose your life:—which brings Sorrow and pain more near?
20. 20It is the Way of Heaven to diminish superabundance, and to supplement deficiency. It is not so with the way of man. He takes away from those who have not enough to add to his own superabundance.
21. 21Fishes should not be taken from the deep; instruments for the profit of a state should not be shown to the people.
22. 22Governing a great state is like cooking small fish.
23. 23It is by avoiding such indulgence that such weariness does not arise.
24. 24Therefore the sage manages affairs without doing anything, and conveys his instructions without the use of speech.