Lao Tzu Quotes

My job is all about getting inside another person's mind and thoughts.

Stick to the man who looks out of the window and tries to understand the world. Keep clear of the man who looks in at the window and tries to understand you.

The writer is a person who is standing apart, like the cheese in 'The Farmer in the Dell' standing there alone but deciding to take a few notes. You’re outside, but you can see things up close through your binoculars. Your job is to present clearly your viewpoint, your line of vision. Your job is to see people as they really are, and to do this, you have to know who you are in the most compassionate possible sense. Then you can recognize others.

I have definitely had experiences where I can feel the shift from simply living my life to being slightly outside of my life and taking notes.

It's hard to put yourself in someone else's head.

It is not a question of sitting silently, it is not a question of chanting a mantra. It is a question of understanding the subtle workings of the mind. As you understand those workings of the mind a great awareness arises in you, which is not of the mind. That awareness arises in your being, in your soul, in your consciousness.

The older I get, the easier it is to just be present in the moment, and understand what a man is going through.

But we shall not know the world by looking at it; we know it by looking at the hovering fly.

The walls of rude minds are scrawled all over with facts, with thoughts. They shall one day bring a lantern and read the inscriptions.

I still don’t know if this is a good quality or a bad one, to be able to be in the moment and then step out of it.

You can't tell what a man is like or what he is thinking when you are looking at him. You must get around behind him and see what he has been looking at.

And perhaps our awareness is the first step to our liberation.

The more you understand yourself, the more you will understand the world.

Reading will put you into the minds and hearts of others. It might help you understand why other people do what they do sometimes.

We can only know others by ourselves.

To think justly, we must understand what others mean. To know the value of our thoughts, we must try their effect on other minds.

It's you who are telling me; opening my eyes to things I'd looked at so long that I'd ceased to see them.

The greatest ownership of all is to glance around and understand.

He who knows others is clever; He who knows himself has discernment.

We have been so blinded by thinking and feeling that we have never seen the World.

Intelligent people know others. Enlightened people know themselves.

I believe a writer's most important skill lies in being able to see things from different perspectives.

Some day, the world will discover that, without thought, there can be no love.

Before you attempt to set things right, make sure you see things right.

Now, when you are aware, you see the whole process of your thinking and action, but it can happen only when there is no condemnation. That is. When I condemn something, I do not understand it.