Laozi Quotes: top 100 famous quotes about Laozi

Laozi Quotes & Sayings

Happy to read and share the best inspirational Laozi quotes, sayings and quotations on Wise Famous Quotes.

Who can rest until the moment of action? — Laozi

A good runner leaves no footprints. — Laozi

The people starve because those above them eat too much tax-grain. That is the only reason why they starve. — Laozi

Treat the large as the small and the few as the many. — Laozi

Truly, only those who see illness as illness can avoid illness. — Laozi

The soft and weak overcome the hard and strong. — Laozi

When you accept yourself, the Universe accepts you. — Laozi

Whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. What is soft is strong. — Laozi

The sage never strives for the great, and thereby the great is achieved. — Laozi

[The Master] doesn't glitter like a jewel ... [but is] as rugged and common as a stone. — Laozi

When you let go of what you are, you become what you might be. — Laozi

The hard and stiff are death's companions. The soft and weak are life's companions. — Laozi

If people live in constant fear of death, and if breaking the law is punished by death, then who would dare? — Laozi

Knowing ignorance is strength; ignoring knowledge is sickness. — Laozi

Knowing honor, but clinging to disgrace, you become the valley of the world. — Laozi

See simplicity in the complicated. Achieve greatness in little things — Laozi

There is nothing softer and weaker than water, and yet there is nothing better for attacking hard and strong things. — Laozi

There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent. — Laozi

Behave simply and hold on to purity. — Laozi

The Tao's principle is spontaneity. — Laozi

Although he travels all day, the sage never loses sight of his luggage carts. — Laozi

What is well rooted cannot be pulled up. What is firmly grasped will not slip loose. It will be honoured from generation to generation. — Laozi

Those who know it do not speak about it. Those who speak about it do not know it. — Laozi

Why separate your spiritual life and your practical life? To an integral being, there is no such distinction. — Laozi

When great armies go to war, Sorrow is the sole winner. — Laozi

He who loves does not dispute: He who disputes does not love. — Laozi

Pursue without interfering. — Laozi

First and last follow each other. — Laozi

Stretch the bow to the very full, and you will wish you had stopped in time. — Laozi

Whatever is flexible and living will tend to grow; whatever is rigid and blocked will wither and die. — Laozi

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

A good speaker does not stutter. — Laozi

To know others is to have knowledge. To know yourself is to be enlightened. — Laozi

Life and death are one thread ... — Laozi

Fame of self: Which matters more? Self or wealth: Which is more precious? Gain or loss: Which is more painful? — Laozi

In stillness the muddied water returns to clarity. — Laozi

In order to eliminate the negative influences, simply ignore them. — Laozi

Don't impose your will through manipulation of aggressive emotions and actions. — Laozi

The moment truth is asserted, it becomes false. — Laozi

Things are not worth attending to, yet they have to be attended to. — Laozi

Must one dread what others dread? — Laozi

For knowledge, add something every day. For wisdom ... subtract. — Laozi

Only by working within the laws that govern the flow of water will happiness be achieved. — Laozi

The reason for great distress is the body. Without it, what distress could there be? — Laozi

Deal with the small before it becomes large. — Laozi

A good calculator does not need artificial aids. — Laozi

Conclusions are ignorance arrested on the path to less ignorance. — Laozi

The most able seems clumsy. — Laozi

All things arise in unison. Thereby we see their return. — Laozi

There is no greater disaster than discontent. — Laozi

Peace and quiet are preferred. Victory should not be praised. — Laozi

People are hard to govern. The rulers interfere with too much. That is why people are hard to govern. — Laozi

The way is light and fluid for the man with
no preferences. — Laozi

If one desires to receive one must first give. This is called profound understanding. — Laozi

When people do not dread authorities, then a greater dread descends. — Laozi

Searching for precious goods leads astray. — Laozi

Intelligent people know others. Enlightened people know themselves. — Laozi

What man has more than enough and gives it to the world? Only the man of Tao. — Laozi

The scholar gains every day; the man of Tao loses every day. — Laozi

Empty your mind of all thoughts. — Laozi

Those who are content suffer no disgrace. — Laozi

The best way to live / is to be like water / For water benefits all things / and goes against none of them. — Laozi

You should rule a great country As you would fry a small fish- With the least turning. — Laozi

Without looking through the window, you can see Heaven's Way. — Laozi

Is not the space between Heaven and Earth like a bellows? It is empty, but lacks nothing. The more it moves, the more comes out of it. — Laozi

Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner. — Laozi

When the great Tao is abandoned, benevolence and righteousness arise. — Laozi

Do not strive for the shine of jade, but clatter like stone. — Laozi

Covetousness is the greatest misfortune. One who does not know what is enough will never have enough. — Laozi

Goodie-goodies are the thieves of virtue. — Laozi

Without the tao, Kindness and compassion are replaced by law and justice; Faith and trust are supplanted by ritual and ceremony. — Laozi

When equal armies battle, the grieving one will be victorious. — Laozi

Those who would take over the earth and shape it to their will, never, I notice succeed. — Laozi

Why are the people rebellious? Because the rulers interfere too much. Therefore they are rebellious. — Laozi

In the pursuit of learning, every day something is acquired. In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped. — Laozi

Abandon wisdom, discard knowledge, and people will benefit a hundredfold. — Laozi

The sage never strives for greatness, and can therefore accomplish greatness. — Laozi

A follower of the Way (Tao) loses something each day. Loss after loss until arriving at Non Action (Wu Wei). — Laozi

The man of knowledge acquires something new everyday, and the man of Tao lets go of something new every day. — Laozi

He (the sage) is good to those who are good. He is also good to those who are not good. That is the virtue of good. — Laozi

I am at peace, and people become fair by themselves. — Laozi

The more you talk of it, the less you understand. — Laozi

The truth often sounds paradoxical. — Laozi

It's hard to keep your balance standing tip-toe. — Laozi

The sage is sharp but does not cut, pointed but does not pierce, forthright but does not offend, bright but does not dazzle. — Laozi

When men lack a sense of awe, there will be disaster. — Laozi

Deal with it before it happens. Set things in order before there is confusion. — Laozi

The more weapons of violence, the more misery to mankind. The triumph of violence ends in a festival of mourning. — Laozi

In the Way of Heaven, there is no partiality of love; it is always on the side of the good man. — Laozi

The leader's main job is to make themselves obsolete. — Laozi

He who prides himself upon wealth and honor hastens his own downfall. — Laozi

He who steals a hook shall be hanged; while he who steals the state shall be crowned as prince. — Laozi

Use the light that is in you to recover your natural clearness of sight — Laozi

The wise man, after learning something new, is afraid to learn anything more until he has put his first lesson into practice. — Laozi

Only I am clumsy, like drifting on the waves of the sea, without direction. — Laozi

Abandon benevolence, discard duty, and people will return to the family ties. — Laozi

Use the light to return to clarity. — Laozi

As for the "proper way:" it is the beginning of disorder. — Laozi

They can see their neighbors. Roosters and dogs can be heard from there. Still, they will age and die without visiting one another. — Laozi

Not knowing of the eternal leads to unfortunate errors. — Laozi