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Uberlist : Everything about Lao Tzu

Everything you need to know about Lao Tzu's Philosophy [Including his 50 best Quotes]


Posted on August 24, 2013 at 9:00 PM

Lao Tzu (also known as Laozi) was a philosopher of ancient China. He is known as the reputed author of the Tao Te Ching and the founder of Taoism.

Lao Tzu's work is important for mankind, especially in a modern world distracted by technology and focused on what seem to be constant, sudden, and severe changes.

His words serve as a reminder of the importance of stillness, openness, and discovering buried yet central parts of ourselves.

Lao Tzu lived around 90 years and in fact he did nothing except live.

He lived totally.

Many times his disciples asked him to write, but he always said: The Tao that can be told is not the real Tao, the truth that can be told becomes untrue immediately.

So he would not say anything; he had not write anything.

At the age of ninety, he took leave of his disciples and start moving towards the Himalaya.

The disciples followed him for a few hundred miles, but by and by Lao Tzu persuaded them to go back.

Then alone he was crossing the border, and the guard on the border imprisoned him.

The guard was also a disciple. And the guard said: "Unless you write a book, I am not going to allow you to move beyond the border.

This much you must do for humanity. Write a book.

That is the debt you have to pay, otherwise I won't allow you to cross." So for three days Lao Tzu was imprisoned by his own disciple.

He was forced – and that's how this small book, the book of Lao Tzu, TAO TE CHING, was born.

He had to write it, because the disciple wouldn't allow him to cross. And he was the guard and he had the authority, he could create trouble, so Lao Tzu had to write the book. In three days he finished it.

This is the first sentence of the book: "THE TAO THAT CAN BE TOLD OF IS NOT THE ABSOLUTE TAO."

THIS IS THE FIRST THING he said: that whatsoever can be said cannot be true.

This is the introduction in the book.

It simply makes you alert: now words will be following, don't become a victim of the words. Remember the wordless. Remember that which cannot be communicated through language, through words.

Lao Tzu goes deeper like nobody has ever gone.

If you can understand Lao Tzu, you can open all the locks for all the problems that exist in your life

This old guy is beautiful – not against ugliness; this old guy is wise – not against stupidity; this old guy is enlightened – not against unenlightenment or unenlightened persons. This old guy is total. And if you can understand him, nothing is left to be understood.

Lao Tzu accepts this world and the other, and he accepts totally.

He is not bothered about the otherworld; he knows that the other is going to grow out of this – that is going to grow out of this, so why bother about it?

Live this as beautifully as possible, as totally as possible, and the other will come out of it naturally. It is going to be a natural growth.

Lao Tzu has a logic altogether different from our mind.

He says: Be the last.

Move in the world as if you are not.

Remain unknown.

Don't try to be the first, otherwise you will be thrown. Don't be competitive, don't try to prove your worth. There is no need. Remain useless and enjoy.

Of course he sounds impractical.

But if we try to understand him we will find that he is most practical on a deeper layer, in the depth – because life is to enjoy and celebrate, life is not to become a utility.

Life is more like poetry than like a commodity in the market; it should be like poetry, a song, a dance, a flower by the side of the road, flowering for nobody in particular, sending its fragrance to the winds, without any address, being nobody in particular, just enjoying itself, being itself.

Lao Tzu says: If you try to be very clever, if you try to be very useful, you will be used.

If you try to be very practical, somewhere or other you will be harnessed, because the world cannot leave the practical man alone.

Lao Tzu says: Drop all these ideas. If you want to be a poem, an ecstasy, then forget about utility. You remain true to yourself. Be yourself.

Lao Tzu says: Be yourself and do your thing and don't bother about anything else.

You are not here to be sold. So don't think of utility, just think of your bliss. Be blissful, and if something flows out of your bliss it is okay – share it. But don't force yourself just to be a utility.

Lao Tzu's world is not of logic but analogy.

Logic is apparent, direct – If you want to understand Lao Tzu that old way won't help.

You will have to put your logic aside because he is not chasing you as a logician, he is not arguing against you – if you argue against him, it will be ridiculous because he has not argued at all. He simply gives an analogy.

So Lao Tzu is just a spokesman of life.

If life is absurd, Lao Tzu is absurd; if life has an absurd logic to it, Lao Tzu has the same logic to it. Lao Tzu simply reflects life.

He doesn't add anything to it, he doesn't choose out of it; he simply accepts whatsoever it is.

His Quotes are full of wisdom and still it's contemporary.

His wisdom can be helpful to all of us in various phases and areas of our life, whether one is student or a CEO of a multinational corporation. His quotes are relevant in this modern era because we have everything, but we are not at peace with ourselves and with others.

This world is a beautiful place and we all can make our world even more beautiful by applying Lao Tzu's wisdom in our daily life. We all need little more love, compassion and understanding in our life to enjoy the beauty around us.

We really need to live our life not just passing the days in pursuit of material things which is endless thirst and never going to fulfill our within.

Find below some of his best quotes:

  1. People in their handling of affairs often fail when they are about to succeed. If one remains as careful at the end as he was at the beginning, there will be no failure.
  2. Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
  3. Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish. Do not overdo it.
  4. He who does not trust enough, Will not be trusted.
  5. A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
  6. A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.
  7. To lead people, walk beside them ...
    As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.
    The next best, the people honor and praise.
    The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate ...
    When the best leader's work is done the people say,
    We did it ourselves!
  8. Health is the greatest possession. Contentment is the greatest treasure. Confidence is the greatest friend. Non-being is the greatest joy.
  9. Those who have knowledge, don't predict. Those who predict, don't have knowledge.
  10. He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know.
  11. The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself.
  12. Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.
  13. The wise man does not lay up his own treasures. The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own.
  14. An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox.
  15. To lead people walk behind them.
  16. He who talks more is sooner exhausted.
  17. The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be.
  18. One who is too insistent on his own views, finds few to agree with him.
  19. The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes.
  20. Man's enemies are not demons, but human beings like himself.
  21. To see things in the seed, that is genius.
  22. Violence, even well intentioned, always rebounds upon oneself.
  23. The higher the sun ariseth, the less shadow doth he cast; even so the greater is the goodness, the less doth it covet praise; yet cannot avoid its rewards in honours.
  24. Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
  25. Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.
  26. Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses.
  27. When a nation is filled with strife, then do patriots flourish.
  28. When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you.
  29. Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline; simulated fear postulates courage; simulated weakness postulates strength.
  30. Truthful words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not truthful. Good words are not persuasive; persuasive words are not good.
  31. If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
  32. If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve.
  33. Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
  34. He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.
  35. When armies are mobilized and issues are joined, The man who is sorry over the fact will win.
  36. The best fighter is never angry.
  37. Time is a created thing. To say 'I don't have time,' is like saying, 'I don't want to.
  38. A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live.
  39. Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.
  40. Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream.
  41. Stop thinking, and end your problems.
  42. The flame that burns Twice as bright burns half as long.
  43. 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.
  44. Men are born soft and supple; dead they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry. Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death. Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life. The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail.
  45. What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.
  46. A skillful soldier is not violent, an able fighter does not rage, a mighty conqueror does not give battle, a great commander is a humble man.
  47. The best of all leaders is the one who helps people so that eventually they don't need him.
  48. If you are depressed you are living in the past.
    If you are anxious you are living in the future.
    If you are at peace you are living in the present.
  49. To know that you do not know is the best.
    To think you know when you do not is a disease.
    Recognizing this disease as a disease is to be free of it.
  50. If there is to be peace in the world,
    There must be peace in the nations.
    If there is to be peace in the nations,
    There must be peace in the cities.
    If there is to be peace in the cities,
    There must be peace between neighbors.
    If there is to be peace between neighbors,
    There must be peace in the home.
    If there is to be peace in the home,
    There must be peace in the heart.

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