Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
Simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.
When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everyone will respect you.
We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move. We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want. We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable. We work with being, but non-being is what we use.
Love is a decision - not an emotion!
A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live.
If you try to change it, you will ruin it. Try to hold it, and you will lose it.
In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don't try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.
The reason why the universe is eternal is that it does not live for itself; it gives life to others as it transforms.
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
Your own positive future begins in this moment. All you have is right now. Every goal is possible from here.
When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad.
Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.
There is a time to live and a time to die but never to reject the moment.
There is no illusion greater than fear.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Watch your step.
