It (Tao) is eternally without desire. So, it can be called small. All things return to it, although it does not make itself their ruler. So, it can be called great.
Once you open your heart, you will start to absorb many things that come from the source - from Tao itself.
Tao is beyond words and beyond things. It is not expressed either in word or in silence. Where there is no longer word or silence Tao is apprehended.
Tao can be used by anybody, but it does not beling to anyone. It is just like air; everyone can breathe the air, but no one can claim ownership of the air.
What is essential to practice the Tao is to get rid of cravings and vexations. If these afflictions are not removed, it is impossible to attain stability. This is like the case of the fertile field, which cannot produce good crops as long as the weeds are not cleared away. Cravings and ruminations are the weeds of the mind; if you do not clear them away, concentration and wisdom do not develop.
I am good to people who are good. I am also good to people who are not good. Because Virtue is goodness.
As it acts in the world, the Tao is like the bending of a bow. The top is bent downward; the bottom is bent up. It adjusts excess and deficiency so that there is perfect balance.
The mark of a good marriage is partnership and continuing to feel inspired by your spouse. I had that with Tao. But the end is not necessarily the tragedy. Staying in a relationship that is no longer working is the tragedy. Living unhappily - that's the tragedy.
The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name.
The Tao's principle is spontaneity.
Pooh is able to accomplish what he does because he is simpleminded.
No disaster is worse than being discontented.
The Tao belongs neither to knowing nor not knowing. Knowing is false understanding; not knowing is blind ignorance. If you really understand the Tao beyond doubt, it's like the empty sky. Why drag in right and wrong?
You are still guided by your expectations.
Wisest is he who knows what he does not know.
The Tao is near and people seek it far away.
This is a concept that western culture has forgotten : everything is one! The idea of dichotomy is deeply wrong and nothing is better than a great symbol of China, the Tao, the wheel of yin and yang that represents life. The universe is the harmony of opposites, because there is no water without fire, there is no female with no male, there is no night without day, there is no sun without the moon. . . there is no good without evil! This symbol is perfect since the white and black are embracing each other; inside the white there is a black point and inside the black there is a white point.
Better stop short than fill to the brim. Oversharpen the blade, and the edge will soon blunt. Amass a store of gold and jade, and no one can protect it.
Wenn jemand sich in Inkarnation befindet, bietet ihm dieser Körper das Problem, das er erlernen muss oder (wenn die Evolution fortgeschritten ist) bietet den Träger, der sich für die Art der jeweiligen Aufgabe am besten eignet. Ein orientalischer Körpertyp hat eine gewisse Anzahl von Fähigkeiten, und ein abendländischer Körpertyp weist andere und, wenn ich so sagen darf, ebenso gute Eignungen auf.
The Tao never acts with force, yet there is nothing that it can not do.