Lao Tzu was the most important spiritual Chinese sage. His name, which is also often called Laozi, literally means “Old Master” and is generally considered an honorific.
He lived in the 6th century BC, at the same time as Confucius, who was born a generation after Lao Tzu. He once sought out Lao Tzu who told him “Strip yourself of your proud airs and numerous desires, your complacent demeanor and excessive ambitions. They won’t do you any good. This is all I have to say you.”
Lao Tzu is the father of the Chinese spiritual tradition Taoism, mainly because of his text called Tao te Ching (Tao: the way of all life, te: the fit use of life by men, ching: text or classic).
It is based on the Tao (The Way), which is the creator and sustainer of all things in the Universe, and the practice of doing by nondoing (wu-wei) that enables the disciple to unite with the Tao.
Lao Tzu wrote his only book Tao Te Ching just before he walked away from the Chou empire he served. There are a lot of translations of Tao te Ching, which begins with the very first words of …
1. “The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.”
This first sentence of his teachings seems paradoxical. In my humble opinion it says that everything that is in the world of form (or the world of the ten thousand things, as the Chinese said) is not the formless animating source, which is not nameable. It is like the analogy of the finger pointing to the moon, which is a pointer, but not the moon itself. Whenever the Tao is named, it is labeled and made into a concept which is not the eternal Toa itself.
If you are interested, Wayne Dyer did a complete interpretation of the Tao te Ching called Change Your Thoughts – Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao.
2. “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”
Really a quote to think about. How can that be in the first place: there is no rush and no hurry, but everything works out. Grass does not try to grow, it just grows. Water does not try to flow, it just flows. The only explanation is that everything is done in a naturally perfect way, without resistance and within the flow of life …
3. “Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.”
The Inside-Out approach tells us to start with the man in the mirror. Self-mastery is the basis for success, for yourself as well as with others.
4. “To see things in the seed, that is genius.”
To me this means nothing else as being able to form a personal vision for something. Genius for that matter, is to see the potential in something or someone, although not realized yet (“in the seed”). It is the essence of forming a vision of what might be and then going on making it real.
5. “When the best leader’s work is done the people say: We did it ourselves.”
A leader is not a good leader if he is so ego-driven that he is always standing in front of his team, and is letting the team feel it. The most empowering way is to inspire people so that they become able to realize their own potential.
6. “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
Non-attachment – even or especially to ones own self-image – is the necessity for personal change. If we are open to change and to new possibilities and perspectives, without buying into them blindly, we can grow.
7. “To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.”
This is a realization that can be understood intuitively if we practice meditation and/or are able to quiet the mind of the constant chatter of thoughts.
8. “Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”
This emphasizes that getting started is often the hardest part of the journey. Even the greatest thing is started and then continued by single little steps, one after another. It also has the very practical meaning of breaking huge projects down into small and doable tasks, that then can be executed more easily.
9. “Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.”
In my opinion this is Lao Tzu’s expression of “intentions manifesting” or “thoughts become things”, which is also discusses widely as the secret or the law of attraction. But it is really a much more elegant way to put it :)
10. “At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.”
All you need to really find yourself is to look inside. It reminds me of what Eckhart Tolle said at the beginning of The Power of Now: Those who have not found their true wealth, which is the radiant joy of Being and the deep, unshakable peace that comes with it, are beggars, even if they have great material wealth.”
Those were the selected 10 most inspiring quotes by Lao Tzu, as well as my annotations to them. Maybe you have other interpretations or other favorite quotes of him. Let me know in the comments! :)
Hi Myrko,
I resonate a lot with quote #1. I believe that there are many truths out there that can only be felt, and it’s almost impossible to articulate or describe them in words. It’s a little like how modern translation can sometimes alter or “discount” the original meaning of an ancient transcript. Some things we just have to learn to access in their true forms.
Irene | Light Beckons´s last blog post: Synchronicities
I like #7 very much. Surrendering our will to the Universe amazingly gives us much insight and therefore, power in the purest sense.
Evelyn Lim´s last blog post: Can You Read My Mind?
Hi Myrko,
I love all of these quotes and it was in fact thanks to Dr. Wayne Dyer that I got exposed and familiar with Lao Tzu in the book you mention “Change your thoughts, Change your life”. It is in my opinion priceless wisdom!!!!
Hi Irene, exactly. With thoughts of the mind we try to understand everything and conceptualize by doing so. But by just experience and not labeling with words (working on concepts) we can get an inuitive and instant union with truth.
And Evelyn, it seems more and more like dropping resistance and instead aligning ourself and our creations with the flow of life.
Evita, Wayne talked about his book and the Tao te Ching on Oprah, have you seen it: http://www.oprah.com/article/spirit/inspiration/pkgoprahssoulserieswebcast/20080609_oaf_oss_wdyer ?! I found it interesting, especially his personal transformation from self-help to spirituality.
Hi Myrko
No I must have missed him on Oprah, but thanks for letting me know, I will check it out. I absolutely love him as a speaker and writer and love the spirituality aspect about him and his wisdom.
Evita´s last blog post: Heroes of Healing: James Arthur Ray
Great list, Myrko!
The first two really resonate with me at this time. Thank you for putting together such awesome quotes like this. =)
Ariel´s last blog post: How Would You Live If You Were Totally Fearless?
Yes, genius means visionary who really sees things in the seed or tiny little things nobody else notices. But, that’s not enough. You have to take action in order to change and see that particular seed to grow and fully develop.
I truly think that we all have the answers inside, it’s just very hard to ask the proper questions. Your intuition can guide you, but you need a specific question to get the best possible solution.
Every individual has his own definition of happiness. To some people, it might mean contentment; to others, happiness is a Jaguar. Although there’s no concrete universal way to achieve true happiness, three are three basic keys to finding that sought-after state of mind: knowing what give you real satisfaction, studying yourself, and taking control of your life.
I really loved the 2nd and 7th quote, those are without a doubt, my favorite quotes out of all of the inspiration quotes you’ve given!
Till then,
Jean
I always admire our big thinkers for the beauty and simplicity that their words represent.
They are natural and innocent just like children´s smile. We can and have to learn from them. Thanks for sharing.
Inspiring. I also think that deep inside of our being there are answers to basically everything. We just have to ask the proper questions to dig out the answers.
I really like the second one. If you think about it, we’re all in such rush but most of nature flows at its own pace. You never see the seasons hurrying up or the moon deciding to spin around the earth faster, and so on and so forth.
A wise man.
I like the thousand miles quote and this one that wasn’t in the list:
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.
I realy liked number 2
shows that we can acomplish without rush.
Helped me a lot with my decession taking :)
About #2. Well, actually some parts of nature do hurry… A gazelle that doesn’t rush out of a lion’s way, dies. Doesn’t it? Natural selection perpetuates gazelles that successfully fled lions.
That’s an intelligent point, Romp Zao.
Another wonderful take on #9 is Ramana Maharshi’s “When the flower is ready, the bees will come from miles around.”
@Ruth Strassberg: That’s a nice addition, thanks.
If you can command a single soul; you can command a whole mankind.
“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.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
Myrko, there’s another interpretation of your first quotation that’s important but rather difficult to explain well in just a short comment. Here, I’ll just introduce the interpretation and then refer you to where I describe it in more detail. First, consider more of the quotation:
“The Way [or the Dao or the Tao] that can be told of is not an unvarying way;
“The names that can be named are not unvarying names.
“It was from the Nameless that Heaven and Earth sprang…”
The Wikipedia article on Daoism adds:
These famous first lines of the Tao Te Ching state that the Tao is ineffable, i.e., the Tao is nameless, goes beyond distinctions, and transcends language… In Laozi’s Qingjing Jing (verse 1–8) he clarified the term Tao was nominated as he was trying to describe a state of existence before it happened and before time or space… This is the Chinese creation myth from the primordial Tao. In the first… words in Chapter One, the author articulated an abstract cosmogony… In summary, the “something” that was assumed to be at the base of all such complements (or the complementarity principle, itself) was called “the Tao”, with recognition that, “The Tao that can be spoken of is not the true Tao.”
Elsewhere (at http://zenofzero.net/docs/Z_The_Zen_of_Zero.pdf ) I try to show how this “cosmogony” is consistent with current scientific ideas about how the universe created itself, possibly via a symmetry-breaking quantum-like fluctuation in a total void = the Dao! It’s consistent, for example, with Einstein’s remark that “the universe [is] matter expanding into nothing [the Dao!] that is something.” By the way, I also describe some of this in the first chapter of my book (“Chapter A”) as well as in the linked Chapter Z, the full title of which is “The Zen of Zero and the Dynamics of the Dao”.
Nick this is the same as I described it in other, just simpler words. Thanks for the comment!
No, Myrko, it’s not “the same”. But I’ll leave you with some of his other thoughts:
To know and yet (think) we do not know is the highest (attainment); not to know (and yet think) we do know is a disease.
He who knows (the Tao) does not (care to) speak (about it); he who is (ever ready to) speak about it does not know it.
Please allow me to share my thought…
#8 to me is “do not procrastinate”, because lots of simple things will eventually become difficult if left undone.
Yes, very good addition to #8, thanks @Teo Joni.
“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.” Lao Tzu
I’m not sure if that is really from Lao Tzu, it has a pretty extreme tone to it. What about compassion here?
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.
As you know ther are many translations of the Tao Te Ching and it has been many years since my studies but it might have been Goddard’s translation(too lazy to track down source,lol).