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You cannot receive what you don't give. Outflow determines inflow.
Laozi
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Laozi
Archivist
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Lao-tze
Lao Tzu
Lao-tzu
Lao-tsu
Li Er
Laotze
Receive
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Giving
Outflow
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Withholding
Determines
More quotes by Laozi
We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move. We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want. We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable. We work with being, but non-being is what we use.
Laozi
Heaven's Way is like stretching a bow. The high is lowered and the low is raised. Excess is reduced and deficiency is replenished. Heaven's Way reduces excess and replenishes deficiency. People's Way is not so. They reduce the deficient and supply the excessive.
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Though tightly the net of words forms, how surely truth slips out.
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In ancient times, those who followed the Way did not try to give people knowledge thereof, but kept them ignorant.
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When the emperor is crowned or the three dukes are appointed, rather than sending a gift of jade carried by four horses, remain still and offer the Way.
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The rigid and big belong below. The soft and weak belong above.
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To have enough of enough is always enough.
Laozi
The sage's Way is to act and not to contend.
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Those who are unswerving have resolve
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Be merciful, moderate, and modest.
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Once you arrive {at a spontaneous awareness of the Great Oneness}, remember: it isn't necessary to struggle to maintain unity with it. All you have to do is participate in it.
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Approach the universe with Tao, And evil will have no power. Not that evil is not powerful, But its power will not be used to harm others.
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Watch your thoughts, they become words.
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The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world. Through this I know the advantage of taking no action.
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When the student is ready the teacher will appear.
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Quiet your mind and stop judging and resisting and manipulating the natural way.
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The feminine values are the fountain of bliss. Know the masculine, Keep to the feminine.
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The fourth (of the four cardinal virtues) is supportiveness: this manifests as service to others without expectation of reward. (Paraphrased: Such service is not a mere conforming to some external rule of behavior, but instead a manifestation of your original nature).
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If you scramble about in search of inner peace, you will lose your inner peace.
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Supreme good is like water. Water greatly benefits all things, without conflict. It flows through places that people loathe. Thereby it is close to the Way.
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