Tao Te Ching

by Lao Tzu

Here are the four fundamentals of true spirituality: recognize simplicity, cherish purity, reduce your possessions, diminish your desires.

True virtue does not assert itself, and therefore is unpretentious.

The wise recognize the limits of their knowledge; the foolish think they know everything.

A living being is tender and flexible; a corpse is hard and stiff. It is the same with everything— leaves and grasses are tender and delicate, but when they die they become rigid and dry. Those who are hard and inflexible belong to death’s domain; but the gentle and flexible belong to life.