Tao Te Ching
Lao Tzu - A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way
By Lao Tzu
Trans: Ursula Le Guin
For a favorite, it’s a very difficult choice between Ursula Le Guin and Red Pine. With the conviction that the poetic beauty communicates much of Lao Tzu’s message, Le Guin has an emphasis on maintaining the beauty and poetry of the language. All of the translations seem to sometimes illuminate a deep meaning, sometimes completely miss the point. This is also true for the Le Guin translation but much more than most, this one seems to stay on the deep understanding side of that continuum.
Quotes from Lao Tzu - A Book about the Way and the Power of the Way
“The prize thrown away by the aggressor is compassion.”
Chapters:
69. No Enemy
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“A great government wouldn't chop and hack at human nature, trying to make leaders out of sow's ears.”
Chapters:
28. Turning Back
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“From the divine right of kings through the deadly teachings of Hitler and Mao to the mumbojumbo of economists, government by theory has done endless ill.”
Chapters:
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“Simple statements have complex implications and need thinking about.”
Chapters:
27. No Trace
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“The word I render as ‘opinion’ can be read as ‘knowing too soon’: the mind obeying orders, judging before the evidence is in closed to fruitful perception and learning… Buddhists and Taoists agree in having a very low opinion of opinion.”
Chapters:
38. Fruit Over Flowers
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“To those who will not admit morality without a deity to validate it… the firmness of Lao Tzu’s morality and the sweetness of his spiritual counsel must seem incomprehensible, or illegitimate, or very troubling indeed.”
Chapters:
16. Returning to the Root, Meditation
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“We tend to expect great things from ‘seeing the world’ and ‘getting experience.’…Lao Tzu’s point: it’s the inner eye that really sees the world.”
Chapters:
47. Effortless Success
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