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Ambition
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He who tip-toes cannot stand; he who strides cannot walk.
-Lao-Tzu
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Attachment
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By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning.
-Lao-Tzu
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Beginnings
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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 milesbegins 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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Bravery
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Because of a great love, one is courageous.
-Lao-Tzu
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Change
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Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them -- that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
-Lao-Tzu
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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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Charity
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If you would take, you must first give, this is the beginning of intelligence.
-Lao-Tzu
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He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much.
-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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Control
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He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.
-Lao-Tzu
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Desires
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Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires.
-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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Discovery
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Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding.
-Lao-Tzu
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Failure
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People in their handlings 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.
-Lao-Tzu
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Fear
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Favor and disgrace are like fear. Favor is in a higher place, and disgrace in a lower place. When you win them you are like being in fear, and when you lose them you are also like being in fear. So favor and disgrace are like fear.
-Lao-Tzu
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Genius
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To see things in the seed is genius.
-Lao-Tzu
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Government
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Of the best rulers, The people only know that they exist; the next best they love and praise the next they fear; and the next they revile. When they do not command the people's faith, some will lose faith in them, and then they resort to oaths! But of the best when their task is accomplished, their work done, the people all remark, We have done it ourselves.
-Lao-Tzu
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Growth
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A tree trunk the size of a man grows from a blade as thin as a hair. A tower nine stories high is built from a small heap of earth.
-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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Happiness
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Seek not happiness too greedily, and be not fearful of unhappiness.
-Lao-Tzu
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Identity
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He who knows others is clever; He who knows himself has discernment.
-Lao-Tzu
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Intelligence
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Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline; simulated fear postulates courage; simulated weakness postulates strength.
-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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Kindness
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Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.
-Lao-Tzu
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Books by and about Lao-Tzu