Tao Te Ching Quotes

“True satisfaction is to be found in accepting life as it is, instead of struggling to change it into something we imagine that we wish.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“Too much concern for single individuals can bring mayhem on society.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“If we allow morals to influence our judgments, we are unable to be objective. Then there is a risk that the punishment of a deed is far worse than the deed itself.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“Mostly, good and bad are in the hands of those who have power. They decide what is good for all or bad for all. That’s usually what happens to be good or bad for them.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“The surface is just as real as what lies beneath it. They reveal one another. None exists without the other, so none is superior or inferior.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“What we want is not what we need. What we long for makes us blind to what we have. What we are is not what we pretend to be. Only what we cease to cover up, we can see as it really is.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“The humble ones with modest demands are easily satisfied and therefore soon to be joyous.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“Impatience and discontent are poison to the mind, therefore to the body as well.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“Truth is revealed to the one who detaches himself from the world, not tempted by anything in it and not distracted by any of its phenomena.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“It’s probably truer now, than ever before in human history. What we want is not what we need. What we long for makes us blind to what we have. What we are is not what we pretend to be. Only what we cease to cover up, we can see as it really is. Lao Tzu”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“There was something that finished chaos, Born before Heaven and Earth. So silent and still! So pure and deep! It stands alone and immutable, Ever-present and inexhaustible. It can be called the mother of the whole world. I do not know its name. I call it the Way. For the lack of better words I call it great.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“There can be a universe without any gods to rule it, but not one without laws for it.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“When a world of whatever kind appears, it has to follow the law for such a world. But the law does not change if the world appears or disappears. It remains the same forever and anywhere.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“Mountains, planets, galaxies, they all consist of atoms, which do in turn consist of particles so minute that their existence may never be confirmed. Since everything in the world consists of things small, the minute is closer to the nature of Tao. And since most things in the world go by unnoticed, the hidden is also closer to the nature of Tao.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“Each of us knows that we are mortal, so we are desperate to live our lives to the fullest.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“Many belief systems praise the spirit and condemn the body, but the latter is the vessel of the former. They depend on each other. A spirit without a body cannot act, nor can a body without spirit. The Taoist treats each according to its nature. Both of them need concern and nourishment. Whichever one is neglected, both will suffer.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“The world can be understood from its surface as well as from its interior.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“If we cease to look at the world for what we hope or fear that it will be to us, then we can see what it really is – its true nature, which is the Way.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“If we want to see beneath the surface, into what really makes up the world, we have to detach ourselves from the attraction of that surface. When we distance ourselves from the world as if we are not at all part of it, then we can see through it. The mystery of its true nature becomes evident.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“Tao Te Ching presents a world order that has much more in common with hunter-gatherer societies. Their cosmologies are usually very complex and abstract, not to say cryptic, and their ethics don’t particularly stress hierarchy and obedience. I wouldn’t say that Lao Tzu’s Taoism is strictly pre-agrarian, but it gives an impression of such ideas clashing with the ideals of agrarian society. Taoism can be seen as an attempt of merging the two.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“When we accept that the mystery and the manifestations mirror each other, the secret is revealed. We can understand all. What you see is what you get, but you have to truly see it for what it is.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained

“we want to see beneath the surface, into what really makes up the world, we have to detach ourselves from the attraction of that surface.”
― Stefan Stenudd, Tao Te Ching: The Taoism of Lao Tzu Explained