Tao Te Ching

by Lao Tzu

For governing a country well there is nothing better than moderation. The mark of a moderate man is freedom from his own ideas. Tolerant like the sky, all-pervading like sunlight,

Honors can be bought with fine words, respect can be won with good deeds; but the Tao is beyond all value, and no one can achieve it.

The Master never reaches for the great; thus she achieves greatness. When she runs into a difficulty, she stops and gives herself to it.

What he desires is non-desire; what he learns is to unlearn.

If you want to govern the people, you must place yourself below them. If you want to lead the people, you must learn how to follow them.

I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion.

My teachings are easy to understand and easy to put into practice. Yet your intellect will never grasp them, and if you try to practice them, you’ll fail.

Not-knowing is true knowledge. Presuming to know is a disease.

If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to.

Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death.

She acts without expectation, succeeds without taking credit, and doesn’t think that she is better than anyone else.

Therefore the Master remains serene in the midst of sorrow. Evil cannot enter his heart. Because he has given up helping, he is people’s greatest help.

Wise men don’t need to prove their point; men who need to prove their point aren’t wise.

The more he gives to others, the wealthier he is.

She doesn’t give even a moment’s thought to right or wrong. She never has to make a decision; decisions arise by themselves.

Do your work, then step back: When you do your work whole-heartedly, you are glad to let it go, just as a parent lets a child go, into its own life.

Whatever happens is all right. He treats his own anger or grief just as he would treat an angry or grieving child: with compassion.

till your mud settles: “Mud” stands for concepts, judgments, desires, expectations—everything that obscures and narrows reality. The Master’s life is pure and placid: predictable like the seasons, obvious like the moon. When our mind/heart becomes transparent, the light of the Tao shines through.

Actually, the creative and the receptive are complementary sides of the same process.

Whoever has frugality can be generous. Whoever dares not to be first in the world can become the leader of the world.

he is people’s greatest help: The greatest help is wholeheartedly trusting people to resolve their own problems. A true philanthropist, like a good parent, brings people to the point where they can help themselves.