The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.

When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everyone will respect you.

Silence is a source of great strength.

Simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.

Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?

He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.

Act without expectation.

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.

Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.

The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name.

The unnamable is the eternally real. Naming is the origin of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad.

Being and non-being produce each other. Difficult and easy complete each other. Long and short define each other.

The Master acts without doing anything and teaches without saying anything.

Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go. She has but doesn't possess, acts but doesn't expect.

When her work is done, she forgets it. That is why it lasts forever.

The supreme good is like water, which nourishes all of creation without trying to compete with it.

Water gathers in the low places that people disdain. Therefore it is like the Tao.

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.

When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.

Chase after money and security, and your heart will never unclench.

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

Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.

Can you coax your mind from its wandering and keep to the original oneness?

Can you let your body become as supple and yielding as a newborn child's?

Can you cleanse your inner vision until you see nothing but the light?

Giving birth and nourishing, having without possessing, acting with no expectation, leading and not trying to control: this is the supreme virtue.

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.

Success is as dangerous as failure. Hope is as hollow as fear.

What does it mean that success is as dangerous as failure? Whether you go up the ladder or down it, your position is shaky.

When you stand with both feet firmly on the ground, you will always keep your balance.

See the world as yourself. Have faith in the way things are. Love the world as yourself; then you can care for all things.

The ancient masters were profound and subtle. Their wisdom was unfathomable.

They were watchful, like men crossing a winter stream; alert, like men aware of danger; courteous, like visiting guests.

Yielding, like melting ice; simple, like uncarved wood; empty, like a valley; obscure, like muddy water.

Who can wait quietly while the mud settles? Who can remain still until the right action arises by itself?

Empty your mind of all thoughts. Let your heart be at peace.

Watch the turmoil of beings, but contemplate their return.

Each separate being in the universe returns to the common source. Returning to the source is serenity.

If you don't realize the source, you stumble in confusion and sorrow. When you realize where you come from, you naturally become tolerant.

Tolerant, you are impartial. Impartial, you are kingsize. Kingsize, you are noble. Noble, you are homelike.

When you are at one with the Tao, you will live long and your life will be exempt from decay.

The best leaders are those the people hardly know exist.

The next best is a leader who is loved and praised. Next, one who is feared. The worst is one who is despised.

If you don't trust the people, you make them untrustworthy.

When the Master governs, the people are hardly aware that he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: 'We did it ourselves.'

When the great Tao is forgotten, goodness and piety appear. When intellectual cleverness arises, great hypocrisy begins.

When there is no peace in the family, filial piety begins. When the country falls into chaos, patriotism appears.

Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires.

Give up learning, and you will be free from all your worries.

What is the difference between yes and no? What is the difference between good and evil? Must I fear what others fear? What nonsense!

Other people are bright and confident; I alone seem dim and bewildered. Other people are clever and purposeful; I alone seem dull and clumsy.

I am different from other people: I drink from the Great Mother's breast.

If you want to become whole, let yourself be partial. If you want to become straight, let yourself be crooked.

If you want to become full, let yourself be empty. If you want to be reborn, let yourself die.

If you want to be given everything, give everything up.

The Master doesn't display himself, therefore people can see his light. He doesn't assert himself, therefore he is recognized.

He doesn't boast, therefore he has merit. He doesn't glorify himself, therefore he endures.

Because he does not compete, no one can compete with him.

The ancient saying, 'Yield and overcome,' is not an empty phrase. Truly, if you yield, you will be whole.

He who stands on tiptoe doesn't stand firm. He who rushes ahead doesn't go far.

He who shines his own light doesn't shine. He who praises his own work doesn't achieve.

Before the universe was created, there was something formless and perfect. It was pure, deep, solitary, and unchanging.

It is the Mother of all things under heaven. I do not know its name, but I call it Tao.

The heavy is the root of the light. The unmoved is the source of all movement.

The Master travels all day without leaving home. However splendid the views, she rests quietly in her being.

Why should the lord of ten thousand chariots act lightly in public? If you act lightly, you lose your root. If you are restless, you lose your power.

A good knot needs no rope and cannot be untied. A good traveler leaves no tracks.

The Master sees things as they are, without trying to control them. She lets them go their own way, and resides at the center of the circle.

Do you want to improve the world? I don't think it can be done. The world is sacred. It can't be improved.

If you tamper with it, you will ruin it. If you treat it like an object, you will lose it.

There is a time for being ahead, a time for being behind; a time for being in motion, a time for being at rest.

The Master avoids excess, extravagance, and complacency.

Whoever relies on the Tao in governing men doesn't try to force issues or defeat enemies by force of arms.

For every force there is a counterforce. Wherever an army is stationed, briars and thorns grow up.

Even the finest weapon is an instrument of fear; a civilized man will not use it unless he is forced to, and then with sadness and restraint.

His victory is not a cause for rejoicing. To rejoice in a conquest is to rejoice in the slaughter of men.

The Tao is like a great river that flows everywhere. It is the Mother of the world.

Those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know. Close your mouth, blunt your sharpness, untie your knots, soften your glare.

If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.

If you stay in the center and embrace death with your whole heart, you will endure forever.

The great Tao flows everywhere, both to the left and to the right. All things depend on it for life, yet it doesn't hold on to them.

It accomplishes its work, but claims no credit. It dresses and feeds all things, but doesn't claim to be their master.

Because it has no desires, it can be called small. Because all things return to it, it can be called great.

If you want to shrink something, you must first allow it to expand. If you want to get rid of something, you must first allow it to flourish.

If you want to take something, you must first give it. This is called the subtle perception of the way things are.

The soft and the yielding overcome the hard and the strong.

Fish cannot leave deep waters, and a country's weapons should not be displayed.

The Tao never acts, yet nothing is left undone.

If powerful men and women could center themselves in it, the whole world would be transformed by itself, in its natural rhythm.

When they are transformed, and desire raises its head, I quell it with the nameless simplicity.

Nameless simplicity brings absence of desire. The absence of desire leads to stillness. And the world reaches peace of its own accord.

A truly good man is not aware of his goodness, and therefore is good. A foolish man tries to be good, and therefore is not.

The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest; that which has no substance enters where there is no crevice.

Nothing in the world is more soft and yielding than water. Yet for attacking the hard and strong, nothing can surpass it.

That the soft overcomes the hard, and the yielding overcomes the rigid: everyone knows this, yet no one can put it into practice.

Newborn children are soft and tender. When dead, they are stiff and hard. Ten thousand plants are soft and flexible. When dead, they are dry and brittle.

Hardness and rigidity are companions of death. Softness and flexibility are companions of life.

Therefore an army that cannot yield will be defeated. A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind.

The hard and strong will fall. The soft and weak will overcome.

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.

True words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not true. Good men do not argue; those who argue are not good.

The wound is the place where the light enters you.

What you seek is seeking you.

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.

You cannot find peace by avoiding life.

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.

The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone.

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life.