The Tao of Happiness Quotes

“trust is also the most important ingredient in personal communication. If trust is not present, you can choose every word carefully and still fail to convey your meaning—everything you say is suspect and open to the most negative interpretation, and any attempts to explain or clarify yourself may make the situation even worse. When trust is present, it trumps everything else. Even when you can’t think of the right words or you stutter badly, it doesn’t matter. They’ll tell you it’s okay, because they know what you mean. They know what you are trying to say. Trust makes all the difference in the world.”
― Derek Lin, The Tao of Happiness: Stories from Chuang Tzu for Your Spiritual Journey

“What are the harmful elements you should remove? Everyone is different, but some of the common ones are as follows: Habits that are unhealthy or even destructive A negative mind-set that leads to frequent complaints Tendency to sabotage your own success Physical, mental, or spiritual clutter Inertia or indecisiveness that prevents effective action”
― Derek Lin, The Tao of Happiness: Stories from Chuang Tzu for Your Spiritual Journey

“When taking care of a horse, what one must do is remove everything that is harmful to the horse in order to bring out the horse’s own natural vitality. The way to rule the empire is similar.”
― Derek Lin, The Tao of Happiness: Stories from Chuang Tzu for Your Spiritual Journey

“Chuang Tzu’s message for us is not to completely discard books but to put them in their proper place by understanding the limitation of words. Reading a description of how to make wheels can never give you the skills you will gain by actually making them. Similarly, reading a book about the Tao can never give you the wisdom you will gain by actually living life.”
― Derek Lin, The Tao of Happiness: Stories from Chuang Tzu for Your Spiritual Journey

“Similarly, forcing your beliefs onto someone else damages your relationship. The damage may not be easy to spot at first, like tiny cracks in a wooden wheel, but it’s just a matter of time before the wheel splits apart.”
― Derek Lin, The Tao of Happiness: Stories from Chuang Tzu for Your Spiritual Journey

“You can always use intuition and observation to bring out the truth.”
― Derek Lin, The Tao of Happiness: Stories from Chuang Tzu for Your Spiritual Journey

“Use the art of reduction in every aspect of life. The Tao is all about simplicity, so the Tao process is about subtraction rather than addition. Remove obstacles and complexity to unleash the power of your natural capabilities and to fully express your vast potential.”
― Derek Lin, The Tao of Happiness: Stories from Chuang Tzu for Your Spiritual Journey

“All living things are looking to gain an advantage for themselves, but the process also imposes a burden on them. Generally speaking, the potential gain right in front of you causes you to forget the potential disaster right behind you. The two are connected.” Chuang Tzu”
― Derek Lin, The Tao of Happiness: Stories from Chuang Tzu for Your Spiritual Journey

“Do not be misled into thinking the Tao is concerned with physical immortality. That is the shallow opinion of dabblers. The truth ... is deeper and far more interesting.”
― Derek Lin, The Tao of Happiness

“The Tao does not accumulate or increase complexity—it reduces, simplifies, and streamlines. It’s not about learning more techniques—it’s about discarding the harmful elements.”
― Derek Lin, The Tao of Happiness: Stories from Chuang Tzu for Your Spiritual Journey

“Thus, if you look for the Tao in books, you won’t find it anywhere . . . but if you look for the Tao in life, you will find it everywhere.”
― Derek Lin, The Tao of Happiness: Stories from Chuang Tzu for Your Spiritual Journey

“Use hands-on experience to find the optimal balance in everything. Whatever you need to do, there will be the right speed and the right amount of force to give you the best possible results. Keep in mind that this is something you can only learn from life itself—not from books.”
― Derek Lin, The Tao of Happiness: Stories from Chuang Tzu for Your Spiritual Journey

“To live with meaning is to have the right focus in life. That focus cannot be obsessions, attachments, or hobbies. It must be people, because the love you put into your personal relationships comes back to you many times over. This is the real message of the story. Never allow yourself to become the horse lover. Follow the Tao to become who you really want to be—the people lover.”
― Derek Lin, The Tao of Happiness: Stories from Chuang Tzu for Your Spiritual Journey