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Character
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To produce things and to rear them,
To produce, but not to take possession of them,
To act, but not to rely on one's own ability,
To lead them, but not to master them -
This is called profound and secret virtue.
-Lao-Tzu, The Way of Lao-Tzu
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Community
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Let there be a small country with few people . . .
Though neighboring communities overlook one another and the crowing of cocks and barking of dogs can be heard,
Yet the people there may grow old and die without ever visiting one another.
-Lao-Tzu
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Confidence
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"When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you."
-Lao-Tzu
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Discipline
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Don't think you can attain total awareness and whole enlightenment without proper discipline and practice. This is egomania. Appropriate rituals channel your emotions and life energy toward the light. Without the discipline to practice them, you will tumble constantly backward into darkness.
-Lao-Tzu
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Guilt
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There is no calamity greater than lavish desires. There is no greater guilt than discontentment. And there is not greater disaster than greed.
-Lao-Tzu
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Journeys
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A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.
-Lao-Tzu
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Leadership
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"The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, 'We did it ourselves.'"
-Lao-Tzu
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Love
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"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage."
-Lao-Tzu
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Perception
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See simplicity in the complicated.
Achieve greatness in little things.
-Lao-Tzu
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Persistence
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A violent wind does not outlast the morning; a squall of rain does not outlast the day. Such is the course of Nature. And if Nature herself cannot sustain her efforts long, how much less can man!
-Lao-Tzu, Source: Lionel Giles translation [1905]
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Space
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For the wise man looks into space and he knows there is no limited dimensions.
-Lao-Tzu
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Starting
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The journey of a thousand miles
starts from beneath your feet.
NOTE: Other translations exist, such as:
"Great trees grow from the smallest shoots;
a terraced garden, from a pile of earth,
and a journey of a thousand miles
begins by taking the initial step."
http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/texts/taote-v3.html
http://www.religiousworlds.com/taoism/ttcstan3.html
-Lao-Tzu, Tao Te Ching ch. 64
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Water
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The best [man] is like water.
Water is good; it benefits all things and does not compete with them.
It dwells in [lowly] places that all disdain.
This is why it is so near to Tao.
-Lao-Tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu
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Water flows humbly to the lowest level.
Nothing is weaker than water,
Yet for overcoming what is hard and strong,
Nothing surpasses it.
-Lao-Tzu, Tao Te Ching
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Wisdom
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When the superior scholar hears of Tao, he diligently practises it. When the average scholar hears of Tao, he sometimes retains it, sometimes loses it. When the inferior scholar hears of Tao, he loudly laughs at it. Were it not thus ridiculed, it would not be worthy of the name of Tao.
-Lao-Tzu, Source: The Sayings of Lao-Tzu, Lionel Giles translation [1905]
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Books by and about Lao-Tzu
