Tao Te Ching
Tao Te Ching
Chapter 61Lying Low
Chapter 61
A great country is like the sea,
Like a watershed that all rivers flow down toward.
The feminine of the world,
It joins everything together
Overcoming aggression with humility, stillness, and peace.
In this way a great country
Wins over smaller and weaker ones
With respect and appreciation.
Not threatened, smaller countries support and sustain the larger
Winning patronage and protection
Like the feminine drawing in the male.
They both lie low to be on top,
Accomplish by surrendering.
Commentary
“Water is for fish and air for men. Natures differ, and needs with them. Hence the wise men of old did not lay down one measure for all.”
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“Nature hath given men one tongue but two ears, that we may hear from others twice as much as we speak.”
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“Perfect peace lies in freedom from characteristic distinctions… free from the idea of a personality, free from the idea of a being, and free from the idea of a separated individuality.”
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“The world turns to the great state that cultivates humility. Thus, each gets what it wants. But it is the great state that needs to be more humble.”
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“a racrhorse used to catch a rat
will never match a crippled cat.”
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“For the person who has learned to let go and let be, nothing can ever get in the way again.”
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“Slowly slowly O mind, everything in own pace happens, fruit arrives only in its season.”
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“The first great rule of life - to put up with things – is half of all wisdom… We often have to put up with the most from those on whom we most depend… Out of patience comes forth peace, the priceless boon that is the happilness of the world.”
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“Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards..”
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“Genius always rises like a palm-tree above the soil in which it is rooted.”
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“A woman’s strength is the irresistible might of weakness.”
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“It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.”
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“There are two things that men should never weary of, goodness and humility; we get none too much of them in this rough world among cold, proud people.”
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“If there were no girls like them in the world, there would be no poetry.”
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“One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.”
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“Woman always stands just where the man's shadow falls, so that he is only too liable to confuse the two. Then, when he tries to repair this misunderstanding, he overvalues her and believes her the most desirable thing in the world.”
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“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
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“She was beautiful in her ignorance, virtuous in her simplicity, and strong in her weakness. Today she has become ugly in her ingenuity, superficial and heartless in her knowledge. Will the day ever come when beauty and knowledge, ingenuity and virtue, and weakness of body and strength of spirit will be united… ?”
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“All women are not Helen but have Helen in their hearts.”
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“The only wisdom we can hope to acquire is the wisdom of humility.”
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“People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.”
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“The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives the passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years.”
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“what people call beautiful is really just decay… How much greater is the beauty that is underneath the surface.” Comments: Click to comment
“If we do not live where we work, when we work we are wasting our lives and our work too.”
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“Ever notice that anyone going slower than you is an idiot, but anyone going faster is a maniac?”
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“You don’t have to try to catch the universe in the same way that you would try to catch a grasshopper or a flea. You don’t have to do something with what you have experienced, particularly… If you actually want to use something, you have to let it be.”
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“Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, Something you do , Something you are, And something you give away.”
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Comments (1)
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Shan Dao
6 years ago
Some translations of this chapter seem to have been corrupted and changed into justifications for large countries dominating small ones. Our translation tries to stress Lao Tzu’s clear insight into the natural harmony and synergy of big/small, male/female, rich/poor.
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