Lao Tzu Quotes

The sage desires no desire, does not value rare treasures, learns without learning, recovers what people have left behind.

A person who wants nothing fears nothing.

Be deeply satisfied and ready for more.

Our purpose in life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we simply desire contentment.

Heaven is for thee too high To know what passes there; be lowly wise. Think only what concerns thee and thy being; Dream not of other worlds, what creatures there Live, in what state, condition, or degree, Contented that thus far hath been revealed.

The Master doesn't seek fulfillment. For only those who are not full are able to be used which brings the feeling of completeness.

In this very breath that we take now lies the secret that all great teachers try to tell us.

Never will I pursue happiness, because it is not a goal, just a by-product, and there is no happiness in having or in getting, only in giving.

Better to be happy than wise.

There is no greater sin than desire, No greater curse than discontent, No greater misfortune than wanting something for oneself. Therefore he who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.

It needs a good deal of philosophy not to be mortified by the thought of persons who have voluntarily abandoned everything that for the most of us makes life worth living and are devoid of envy of what they have missed. I have never made up my mind whether they are fools or wise men.

In other searchings it might be the object of the quest that brought satisfaction, or it might be something incidental that one got on the way; but in religion, desire was fulfilment, it was the seeking itself that rewarded.

You've been somebody long enough. You spent the first half of your life becoming somebody. Now you can work on becoming nobody, which is really somebody. For when you become nobody there is no tension, no pretense, no one trying to be anyone or anything. The natural state of the mind shines through unobstructed - and the natural state of the mind is pure love.

In every part and corner of our life, to lose oneself is to be a gainer; to forget oneself is to be happy.

I endeavor to drink deep of philosophy, and to be wise when I cannot be merry, easy when I cannot be glad, content with what cannot be mended, and patient where there is no redress. The mighty can do no more, and the wise seldom do as much. ... I am resolved to make the best of all circumstances around me, that this short life may not be half lost in pains ... Between the periods of birth and burial, I would fain insert a little happiness, a little pleasure, a little peace: to-day is ours, yesterday is past, and to-morrow may never come.

One interesting thing about greed is that although the underlying motive is to seek satisfaction, the irony is that even after obtaining the object of your desire you are still not satisfied. The true antidote of greed is contentment.

What happens most deeply inside you is worthy of your whole love.

The wise want love; and those who love want wisdom.

The life of sensation is the life of greed; it requires more and more. The life of the spirit requires less and less.

The intellect of most persons is harnessed by innumerable wants. From the spiritual point of view, such a life is the lowest type of human existence. The highest type of human existence is free from all wants and is characterised by sufficiency or contentment.

To be excited and at the same time satisfied; to desire and possess -that has been described somewhere as the wise man's idea of heaven.

My own ambition, my deepest and truest ambition, is to find within myself someday, somehow, the ability to do likewise, to do NOTHING - and find it enough.

In my 39 years on this earth, the Holy city of Makka had been the first time I had ever stood before the Creator of all and felt like a complete human being

... The wise in all ages... have tried to learn one thing only, and that was resignation to the Will of God. By doing this, they have reached a stage at which they could see from God's point of view.