To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty.
Ambition has one heel nailed in well, though she stretch her fingers to touch the heavens.
In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it.
The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name. The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth; the Named is the mother of all things.
Heaven is long-enduring, and earth continues long. The reason why heaven and earth are able to endure and continue thus long is because they do not live of, or for, themselves.
Man takes his law from the Earth; the Earth takes its law from Heaven; Heaven takes its law from the Tao. The law of the Tao is its being what it is.
I do not concern myself with gods and spirits either good or evil nor do I serve any.
Great indeed is the sublimity of the Creative, to which all beings owe their beginning and which permeates all heaven.
All things in the world come from being. And being comes from non-being.
The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be.
It is better to do one's own duty, however defective it may be, than to follow the duty of another, however well one may perform it. He who does his duty as his own nature reveals it, never sins.
Without stirring abroad, One can know the whole world; Without looking out of the window One can see the way of heaven. The further one goes The less one knows.
He who talks more is sooner exhausted.
Be the chief but never the lord.
Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.
He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.
He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.
He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much.
If you keep feeling a point that has been sharpened, the point cannot long preserve its sharpness.
The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, 'We did it ourselves.'
Nature is not human hearted.
He who knows himself is enlightened.
The higher the sun ariseth, the less shadow doth he cast; even so the greater is the goodness, the less doth it covet praise; yet cannot avoid its rewards in honours.
The power of intuitive understanding will protect you from harm until the end of your days.
The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes.
One can not reflect in streaming water. Only those who know internal peace can give it to others.
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.
By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning.
Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline; simulated fear postulates courage; simulated weakness postulates strength.
One who is too insistent on his own views, finds few to agree with him.
