Notebook
14 entries
Tao Te Ching
Passages from Lao Tzu I keep returning to. The Tao Te Ching is one of those rare books that never runs dry — at every stage of life it answers anew to what has changed within you.
The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The highest good is like water. Water gives life to all things without striving, and settles in the low places that people disdain — that is why it is so close to the Tao.
We shape clay into a vessel, yet it is the emptiness inside that makes it useful.
When the best leader's work is done, the people say: we did it ourselves.
Knowing others is wisdom; knowing yourself is enlightenment. Overcoming others takes force; overcoming yourself takes true strength.
The Tao never acts, yet nothing is left undone.
Know what is enough and you will not be disgraced; know when to stop and you will meet no danger. Thus you last long.
Without going out the door, you may know the whole world. Without looking out the window, you may see the way of heaven.
In the pursuit of learning, every day something is added. In the pursuit of the Tao, every day something is let go.
Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.
The hardest things in the world arise from the easy; the greatest things in the world arise from the small.
A journey of a thousand miles begins beneath your feet.
The hard and rigid are companions of death; the soft and yielding are companions of life.
True words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not true.