The truly wise are content to be last. They are, therefore, first. They are indifferent to themselves. They are, therefore self-confident.
Force is followed by loss of strength. This is not the way of the Tao. That which goes against the Tao comes to an early end.
A scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar.
We go from birth to death. Three out of ten follow life. Three out of ten follow death. People who rush from birth to death are also three out of ten. Why is that so? Because they want to make too much of life.
Intellectual knowledge exists in and of the brain. Because the brain is part of the body, which must one day expire, this collection of facts, however large and impressive, will expire as well. {But spiritual insight transcends death.}
Act without doing; work without effort. Think of the small as large and the few as many. Confront the difficult while it is still easy; accomplish the great task by a series of small acts. The Master never reaches for the great; thus she achieves greatness. When she runs into a difficulty, she stops and gives herself to it. She doesn't cling to her own comfort; thus problems are no problem for her.
The Way is ever nameless.
Can you comprehend everything in the four directions and still do nothing?
Cautious, like crossing a river in the winter.
Can you dissolve your ego? Can you abandon the idea of self and other? Can you relinquish the notions of male and female, short and long, life and death? Can you let go of all these dualities and embrace the Tao without skepticism or panic? If so, you can reach the heart of the Integral Oneness.
Attain utmost emptiness. Abide in steadfast stillness.
Build up virtue, and you master all.
So sometimes things are ahead and sometimes they are behind; Sometimes breathing is hard, sometimes it comes easily; Sometimes there is strength and sometimes weakness; Sometimes one is up and sometimes down. Therefore the sage avoids extremes, excesses, and complacency.
Watch your thoughts, they become words.
When you accurately perceive the fluidity of things, you can also begin to perceive the constancy behind them: the creative, transformative, boundless, immutable Tao.
That which offers no resistance, overcomes the hardest substances.
I do not concern myself with gods and spirits either good or evil nor do I serve any.
By compassion one can be brave.
Knowing ignorance is strength; ignoring knowledge is sickness.
Giving birth and nourishing, Bearing yet not possessing, Working yet not taking credit, Leading yet not dominating, This is the Primal Virtue.
A man's excellence is like that of water; It benefits all things without striving; It takes to the low places shunned by men. Water is akin to Tao. . . . In all the earth nothing weaker than water, Yet in attacking the hard, nothing superior, Nothing so certain in wearing down strength: There is no way to resist it. Note then: The weak conquer the strong, The yielding outlast the aggressors.
He who is attached to things will suffer much.
Don't impose your will through manipulation of aggressive emotions and actions.
Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere. Those who are skilled (in the Tao) do not dispute (about it); the disputatious are not skilled in it. Those who know (the Tao) are not extensively learned; the extensively learned do not know it.
Knowing the bright, but clinging to the dark, you become a model to the world.
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