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.
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
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.
Great acts are made up of small deeds.
People in their handlings of affairs often fail when they are about to succeed. If one remains as careful at the end as he was at the beginning, there will be no failure.
One who is too insistent on his own views, finds few to agree with him.
Of all that is good, sublimity is supreme. Succeeding is the coming together of all that is beautiful. Furtherance is the agreement of all that is just. Perseverance is the foundation of all actions.
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.
He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.
If the Great Way perishes there will morality and duty. When cleverness and knowledge arise great lies will flourish. When relatives fall out with one another there will be filial duty and love. When states are in confusion there will be faithful servants.
An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox.
Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy.
When virtue is lost, benevolence appears, when benevolence is lost right conduct appears, when right conduct is lost, expedience appears. Expediency is the mere shadow of right and truth; it is the beginning of disorder.
A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
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.
Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses.
Treat those who are good with goodness, and also treat those who are not good with goodness. Thus goodness is attained. Be honest to those who are honest, and be also honest to those who are not honest. Thus honesty is attained.
The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes.
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 key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.
