Tao Te Ching Quotes - Contradictions

Reality is subtle...Contradictions aren't really contradictions. All good things contain something bad, and vice versa. Giving is receiving, dying is living... The Tao...

Tao Te Ching: A New English Version (Perennial Classics)

Gravity is the source of lightness,
Calm, the master of haste.
Tao Te Ching

In order to master people
One must speak as their servant;
In order to lead people
One must follow them.
Tao Te Ching

A lone traveller will journey all day, watching over his belongings;
Only safe in his own bed may he lose them in sleep.
Tao Te Ching

Nature is not kind;
It treats all things impartially.
Tao Te Ching

Fill a cup to its brim and it is easily spilled;
Temper a sword to its hardest and it is easily broken;
Amass the greatest treasure and it is easily stolen;
Claim credit and honour and you easily fall;
Retire once your purpose is achieved - this is natural.
Tao Te Ching

Too much colour blinds the eye,
Too much music deafens the ear,
Too much taste dulls the palate,
Too much play maddens the mind,
Too much desire tears the heart.
Tao Te Ching

Both praise and blame cause concern,
For they bring people hope and fear.
The object of hope and fear is the self -
For, without self, to whom may fortune and disaster occur?
Therefore,
Who distinguishes himself from the world may be given the world,
But who regards himself as the world may accept the world.
Tao Te Ching

Accept and you become whole,
Bend and you straighten,
Empty and you fill,
Decay and you renew,
Want and you acquire,
Fulfill and you become confused.
The ancients said, "Accept and you become whole",
Once whole, the world is as your home.
Tao Te Ching


Straighten yourself and you will not stand steady;
Display yourself and you will not be clearly seen;
Justify yourself and you will not be respected;
Promote yourself and you will not be believed;
Pride yourself and you will not endure.
Tao Te Ching


Those who wish to change the world
According with their desire
Cannot succeed.
The world is shaped by the Way;
It cannot be shaped by the self.
Trying to change it, you damage it;
Trying to possess it, you lose it.
So some will lead, while others follow.
Some will be warm, others cold
Some will be strong, others weak.
Some will get where they are going
While others fall by the side of the road.
Tao Te Ching

Who is brave and bold will perish;
Who is brave and subtle will benefit.
The subtle profit where the bold perish
For Fate does not honour daring.
And even the sage dares not tempt fate.
Fate does not attack, yet all things are conquered by it;
It does not ask, yet all things answer to it;
It does not call, yet all things meet it;
It does not plan, yet all things are determined by it.
Fate's net is vast and its mesh is coarse,
Yet none escape it.
Tao Te Ching