“Bestowing honors embarrasses those who don’t receive them…Prizing treasures pains those who don’t possess them… Displaying attractions distresses those who don’t enjoy them to the point where they cause trouble.”

Chapters: 3. Weak Wishes, Strong Bones

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“Confucius relied on kindness and justice, ritual and music to order the kingdom. Lao-tzu’s only concern was to open people’s minds”

Chapters: 19. All Methods Become Obstacles

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“Emptiness has no form. It takes on the form of the ten thousand things. If emptiness had its own form, it could not form anything else. Thus sages have no mind of their own. They take on the minds of the people and treat everyone the same.”

Chapters: 11. Appreciating Emptiness

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“Going from one to two is the origin of all delusion.”

Chapters: 10. The Power of Goodness

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“just as waves rise from a river and return to the river… Only what returns to its nature becomes still and enduring, while what does not return to its nature is at the mercy of others and cannot escape.”

Chapters: 16. Returning to the Root, Meditation

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“Losing something is the result of possessing something. How can people lose what they don't possess?”

Chapters: 2. The Wordless Teachings

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“Oneness dwells in the humble, but it is not humble. Oneness is not like the luster of jade – so noble it cannot be humble – or the coarseness of rock – so humble it cannot be noble.”

Chapters: 39. Oneness

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“People all drown in what they love… People chase things and forget about the Tao, while the sage clings to the Tao and ignores everything else.”

Chapters: 20. Unconventional Mind

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“Perception means to distinguish. Wisdom means to remove obstructions. As long as our distinguishing mind is present, we can only know others, but not ourselves.”

Chapters: 33. Know Yourself

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“The reason sages of the past understood everything without going anywhere was simply because they kept their natures whole.”

Chapters: 47. Effortless Success

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“These twelve sayings refer to the Tao as it appears to us. Wherever we look, we see its examples. The Tao as a whole, however, is hidden in namelessness.”

Chapters: 41. Distilled Life

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