Lao Tzu Quotes

Why are there beings at all, instead of Nothing?

Being is born of not being.

From What-is all the world of things was born But What-is sprang in turn from What-is-not.

Something cannot emerge from nothing.

All things of the world are born of being; being is born of nonbeing.

If there is existence, there must be non-existence. And if there was a time when nothing existed, there must have been a time before that - when even nothing did not exist. Suddenly, when nothing came into existence, could one really say whether it belonged to the category of existence or non-existence?

Why is there anything at all rather than nothing whatsoever?

Nothingness is the basis of everything.

I want to know why the universe exists, why there is something greater than nothing.

Out of nothing can come, and nothing can become nothing.

Nihilism has no substance. There is no such thing as nothingness, and zero does not exist. Everything is something. Nothing is nothing.

To say that the universe exists is silly, because it says that the universe is one of the things in the universe. So there's something wrong with questions like, "What caused the Universe to exist?"

Almost everything comes from almost nothing.

Nothing can be born of nothing; nothing can be resolved into nothing.

Once you start describing nothingness, you end up with somethingness.

It is precisely because there is nothing within the One that all things are from it.

Creation is all space, all time - all things past, present, and future.

Nothingness not being nothing, nothingness being emptiness.

There is still a difference between something and nothing, but it is purely geometrical and there is nothing behind the geometry.

In the beginning, there was silence. And out of the silence came the sound. The sound is not here.

Nothing can be created out of nothing.

The greatest mystery of existence is existence itself.

That which is produced with intention has passed over from non-existence to existence.

If there ever was a time when absolutely nothing existed, all there could possibly be now is nothing.

The Big Bang has made Idealists out of almost anybody who thinks. First there was absolutely nothing, then Bang! Something. This is beyond weird. Out of sheerest Emptiness, manifestation arises.