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The sage is sharp but does not cut, pointed but does not pierce, forthright but does not offend, bright but does not dazzle.

Laozi

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Laozi
Archivist
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Lao-tze
Lao Tzu
Lao-tzu
Lao-tsu
Li Er
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Cutting
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Thirty spokes meet in the hub, but the empty space between them is the essence of the wheel. Pots are formed from clay, but the empty space within it is the essence of the pot. Walls with windows and doors form the house, but the empty space within it is the essence of the home.
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If you want everything, you first have to give everything up.
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What resists, persists.
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Cultivate virtue in yourself, and it will be true.
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The sage embraces the one, and is an example to the world.
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By the accident of fortune a man may rule the world for a time, but by virtue of love and kindness he may rule the world forever.
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The longer you travel, the less you know.
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Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.
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The sage attends to the belly, and not to what he sees.
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Nothing and no one in the world is valuable or worthless.
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A good runner leaves no footprints.
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He who gains a victory over other men is strong but he who gains a victory over himself is all powerful.
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Use justice to rule a country. Use surprise to wage war. Use non-action to govern the world.
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For knowledge, add something every day. For wisdom....subtract.
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To know and not to do is not yet to know.
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Success is as dangerous as failure. Hope is as hollow as fear.
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If a person seems wicked, do not cast him away. Awaken him with your words, elevate him with your deeds, repay his injury with your kindness. Do not cast him away cast away his wickedness.
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The most able seems clumsy.
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When the ancient Masters said, If you want to be given everything, give everything up, they weren't using empty phrases. Only in being lived by the Tao can you be truly yourself.
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Of the second-rate leaders people speak respectfully saying, He has done this, he has done that. Of the first-rate leaders, they do not say this. They say, We have done it all ourselves.
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