Tao Te Ching
Way of Life According to Lao Tzu
By Lao Tzu
Trans: Witter Bynner
While often very inspired by these translations, the discrepancy between Bynner's words and the original text felt extensive. Though there is much to admire in Bynner’s confidence and courage to bring Lao Tsu’s wisdom into his personal understanding, the extreme differences between his and the other translations made it difficult to rely much on his version. Often though, his insights were so clear and his understanding so penetrating, the connection between the "grandmother's finger" original characters and Bynner's illumination of the mood seemed undeniable.
Quotes from Way of Life According to Lao Tzu
“A good man, before he can help a bad man, finds in himself the matter with the bad man.”
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“A sound leader's aim is to open people's hearts.”
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3. Weak Wishes, Strong Bones
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“As want can reward you, wealth can bewilder.”
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22. Heaven's Door
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“Be utterly humble and you shall hold to the foundation of peace.”
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“Better a foot behind than an inch too far ahead.”
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“Do nothing through acting.
Do everything through being.”
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“He who feels punctured must once have been a bubble.”
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36. The Small, Dark Light
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“How can a man's life keep its course if will not let it flow?”
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15. Inscrutability
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“I—pig-headed, awkward, different from the rest—am only a glorious infant nursing at the breast.”
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20. Unconventional Mind
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“If you can stay in the lead of men without their knowing, you are at the core of life.”
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10. The Power of Goodness
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“Let life ripen and then fall, force is not the way at all”
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“Nature does not have to insist... why should man?”
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“Only pursue an offender to show him the way.”
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“Rid of conventionalized duty and honor, people find their families dear.”
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19. All Methods Become Obstacles
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“Rid of legalized profiteering, people would have no thieves to fear.”
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19. All Methods Become Obstacles
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“Set people free as deep in their hearts they would like to be.”
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“Standing tiptoe we lose balance... pride has never brought a person greatness.”
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“Take everything that happens as it comes, as something to animate, not to appropriate”
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2. The Wordless Teachings
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“The highest and humblest, wombs of the world, continuously, endlessly, give birth.”
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28. Turning Back
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“The surest test if a man be sane is if he accepts life whole, as it is.”
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“The surest test if a man be sane is if he accepts life whole, as it is.”
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21. Following Empty Heart
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“They feel no wear, they feel no tear, they need no mending, no repair.”
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“Those who would take over the world never succeed... The wise never over-reach, over-spend, or over-rate.”
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29. Not Doing
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“Those with outer courage dare to die, those with inner courage dare to live.”
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“To accept destiny is to face life with open eyes; not to accept destiny is to face death blindfolded.”
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16. Returning to the Root, Meditation
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“What is is the was of what shall be.”
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“When a person is in turmoil, how can they find peace except by staying patient until the stream clears?”
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“When people lose sight of how to live, they create codes of virtue that give rise to great hypocrisy.”
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18. The Sick Society
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“Without taking credit, a wise man is accredited; laying no claim, he is acclaimed.”
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22. Heaven's Door
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