Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu (c. 6th-5th century BCE)

"The way begets one; one begets two; two begets three;
three begets the myriad creatures."

• From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book Two, XLII), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963).

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu (c. 6th-5th century BCE)

"Governing a large state is like boiling a small fish."

• From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book Two, LX), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963).

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu (c. 6th-5th century BCE)

"The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his
subjects...
When his task is accomplished and his work done
The people all say, 'It happened to us naturally.'"

• From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book One, XVII), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963).

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu (6th-5th century BCE)

"The sage knows without having to stir,
Identifies without having to see,
Accomplishes without having to act."

• From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book Two, XLVII), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963).

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu (c. 6th-5th century BCE)

"The way never acts yet nothing is left undone."

• From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book Two, XLIV), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963).

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu (c. 6th-5th century BCE)

"Know when to stop
And you will meet with no danger.
You can then endure."

• From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book Two, XLIV), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963).

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu (6th-5th century BCE)

"I do my utmost to attain emptiness;
I hold firmly to stillness.
The myriad of creatures all rise together
And I watch their return."

• From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book One, XVI), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963). 

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu (6th-5th century BCE)

"The net of heaven is cast wide. Though the mish is not
fine, yet nothing ever slips through."

• From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book Two, LXXIII), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963).

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Jia Yi

Jia Yi (c. 201-169 BCE)

"All things alter and change;
Never a moment of ceasing.
Revolving, whirling, and rolling away;
Driven far off and returning again."

• Excerpt of a Jia Yi poem (c. 174 BCE), included in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji, 84) by Sima Qian. Translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, 1993).

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu (6th-5th century BCE)

"I alone am inactive and reveal no signs,
Like a baby that has not yet learned to smile,
Listless as though with no home to go back to.
The multitude all have more than enough.
I alone seem to be in want."

• From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book One, XX), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963). 

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu (6th-5th century BCE)

"The reason I have great trouble is that I have a body. When I no longer have a body, what trouble have I?"

• From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book One, XIII), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963).

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Chuang Tzu

Chuang Tzu (lived approximately 370-287 BCE)

"The torch of chaos and doubt - this is what the sage steers by. So he does not use things but relegates all to the constant. This is what it means to use clarity."

• From Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings (section 2), translated by Burton Watson. (Columbia University Press, 1996).

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu (c. 6th-5th century BCE)

"Turning back is how the ways moves;
Weakness is the means the way employs.
The myriad creatures in the world are born from Some-
thing, and Something from Nothing."

• From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book Two, XL), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963).

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tau (c. 6th-5th Century BCE)

"The Way is broad, reaching left as well as right.
The myriad of creatures depend onitfor life yet it claims no authority.
It accomplishes its task yet lays claim to no merit.
It clothes and feeds the myriad of creatures yet lays no claim to being their master."

• From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book One, XXXIV), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963). 

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Chuang Tzu

Chuang Tzu (4th century BCE)

"Your life has a limit but knowledge has none. If you use what is limited to pursue what has no limit, you will be in danger."

• From Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings (section 3), translated by Burton Watson. (Columbia University Press, 1996). 

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu (6th-5th century BCE)

"To be overbearing when one has wealth and position
Is to bring calamity upon oneself."

• From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book One, IX), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963). 

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Chuang Tzu

Chuang Tzu (c. 370-287 BCE)

"Let your mind wander in simplicity, blend your spirit with the vastness, follow along with things the way they are, and make no room for personal views - then the world will be governed."

• From Chuang Tzu: Basic Writings (section 16, "Fit for Emperors and Kings"), translated by Burton Watson. (Columbia University Press, 1996).

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu (6th and 5th century BCE)

"The way is to the world as the River and the Sea are to
rivulets and streams."

• From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book One, XXXII), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963).

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu (6th Century BCE)

"He who tiptoes cannot stand; he who strides cannot walk."

• From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book One, XXIV), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963).

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Lao Tzu

Lao Tzu (6th-5th century BCE)

"Man models himself on earth,
Earth on heaven,
Heaven on the way,
And the way on that which is naturally so."

• From Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (Book One, XXV), translated by D. C. Lau (Penguin Classics, 1963). 

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