What are your favourite short Taoist phrases?

[Birmingham]

I'll start... my favourites include:

* Teach by example, not by words.

* Pretty words aren't sincere, sincere words aren't pretty.

* Those who talk don't know, those who know don't talk.

* The great leader wears rags and carries cash inside.

* The great leader benefits and does not harm.

* Moving on when work is done: heaven's way.

* Call them both deep, deep and again deep - the way to all mystery.

* What others fear I should fear: how stupid!

* Only faulting faults is faultless. By faulting faults the great leader is faultless.


What are your favourite short Taoist phrases?

[mandell]

Tao expresses itself as the multiplicity of beings.
- Chuang Tzu


To follow Tao, look within and return to the universal Self.
- Lao Tzu

[philuk]

The eternal Tao is the grace in all things.

[prismatism]

this isn't exactly short but i love it :D. from the tao te ching.

man at his birth is supple and weak; at his death, firm and strong. so it is with all things. trees and plants, in their early growth, are soft and brittle; at their death, dry and withered. thus it is that firmness and strength are the concomitants of death; softness and weakness, the concomitants of life. hence he who relies on the strength of his forces does not conquer; and a tree which is strong will fill the out-stretched arms. therefore the place of what is firm and strong is below, and that of what is soft and weak is above.

[Cornball1]

Have some tea.

[BlackBillBlake]

'Wu'.

[dirtydog]

LEAVE ME ALONE.


Leave it alone.
Leave us alone.

Fill the belly. Empty the mind.

Learn to forget.

America shits money. Shit here.

[taw]

The Tao of Taw

[Quoth the Raven]

Wu-Wei

'nuff said.

[Exposed]

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao, of course.

[Musikero]

Heaven and Earth do nothing, and yet there is nothing that remains undone.

[OlderWaterBrother]

To act sincerely with the insincere is dangerous.

No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.

It is not hard to produce wisdom... what is hard is to have wisdom not interrupted.

The journey is the reward.

Follow Nature

[underthesun]

As Soon As The World Regards Something As Good, Evil Simultaneously Becomes Apparent.



When One's Task Is Accomplished, One Lets Go Of It And Seeks No Reward Or Recognition. Because One Does Not Claim Credit For Oneself, One Does Not Do Any Damage To Oneself.



Empty Your Mind. Enjoy Good Health. Weaken Your Ambitions. Strengthen Your Essence.



Many Words Lead One Nowhere. Many Pursuits In Different Directions Bring Only Exhaustion. Rather, Embrace The Subtle Essence Within.



Give Birth To And Nourish All Things Without Desiring To Possess Them. Give Of Yourself Without Expecting Anything In Return. Assist People, But Do Not Attempt To Control Them. This Is How To Realize The Deep Virtue Of The Universe.






One Cannot Inspire Confidence In People Through Words Alone. It Must Be Accompanied Be Correct Deeds. When One Of Subtle Virtue Has Accomplished His Tasks, All The People Will Say, "it Is We Ourselves Who Made It So."



Let All People Return To Their True Nature. Love, Kindness, Wisdom, Family Harmony And Loyalty Should Not Be Taught One By One, Seperately From An Honest Life. Then, Once Again, People Will Regain The Natural Virtue Of Wholeness. The World Will Be Naturally Ordered. There Will Be No One Who Singly And Cunningly Works For Personal Interest Alone.

[Naked_Taoist]

"It is the unmanifest potentiality from which all manifestations proceed"

-- Hua-Ching Ni

[dirtydog]

When One's Task Is Accomplished, One Lets Go Of It And Seeks No Reward Or Recognition. Because One Does Not Claim Credit For Oneself, One Does Not Do Any Damage To Oneself.

I'll bring this along to my landlord when I'm explaining why the rent hasn't been paid.

[sathead]

Then why the existence of property for possession? Those projects I believe will change in the year of the Ox.:gnorsi:

[dirtydog]

Then why the existence of property for possession?
That's what the fellow was probably asking two weeks ago, when he froze to death outside the public library here in town.

It is better to be warm than cold.

[famewalk]

When One's Task Is Accomplished, One Lets Go Of It And Seeks No Reward Or Recognition. Because One Does Not Claim Credit For Oneself, One Does Not Do Any Damage To Oneself.


This one has an ego for itself just the same.

I must write italics for the quote machine is a dead beat.

Doing Representation

Would lower taxes make for her a better dress?
When Beauty is in the eye of the beholder;
Such that the good functional dress needs higher taxes.
:cheers2:

[Mr.Peaches]

- By not doing everything is done

- Happiness is not a destination but a way of traveling

and indeed, the Tao that can be told is not the universal Tao

[oldwolf]

carry water, chop wood

[bthizle1]

The journey is the reward.

And one of my personal favorites from the Tao Teh Ching in a wonderful translation done by C. H. Wu,

Thirty spokes converge upon a single hub; It is the hole in the centre that the use of the cart hinges.
We make a vessel from a lump of clay; It is the empty space within the vessel that makes it useful.
We make doors and windows for a room; But it is these empty spaces that make the room livable.
Thus, while the tangible has advantages, It is the intangible that makes it useful.

[AdrenalineJunkie]

Throw away holiness and wisdom, and people will be a hundred times happier.
Throw away morality and justice, and people will do the right thing.
Throw away industry and profit, and there won't be any thieves.

[OlderWaterBrother]

Throw away holiness and wisdom, and people will be a hundred times happier.
Throw away morality and justice, and people will do the right thing.
Throw away industry and profit, and there won't be any thieves. And what do you have? Poor stupid amoral people. :D

[natural philosophy]

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao, of course.

:cheers2:

the tao is not the tao

all that other jargon is useless in the face of this

[OlderWaterBrother]

:cheers2:

the tao is not the tao

all that other jargon is useless in the face of this Maybe so but it's still fun to think about. :D

[natural philosophy]

i guess it helps one approach an understanding of 'taoism' but it is the only one that should be repeated in my opinion. and even then, once it is spoken once should be forgotten.

[OlderWaterBrother]

i guess it helps one approach an understanding of 'taoism' but it is the only one that should be repeated in my opinion. and even then, once it is spoken once should be forgotten. Oh, I'm not so much interested in understanding "Taoism", I'm not sure that is even possible but the "sayings of Taoism" are fun to think about. :D

[natural philosophy]

yea dats coo

i think the very basis of what taoism is prevents one from understanding it.

if you think you 'get' it, you really don't. (not you, i mean in general)

[neuroptican]

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao, of course.

Before I read the Tao Te Ching, I had my views on life but never preached them to people, and I wasn't even able to fully articulate my views to people because I felt it would cheapen it. When I read the Tao Te Ching, I was constantly saying "this is so right, this is exactly how I've been thinking" but just couldn't put into words, just like the book acknowledges that it can't as well. Good stuff.

[dirtydog]

Thirty spokes converge upon a single hub; It is the hole in the centre that the use of the cart hinges.

I thought about making a sexist remark, but I think I'll hold off for now.

[BlackBillBlake]

Quoted from Robert Anton Wilson: Old Chinese proverb says: the wise person is Confucian when times are good, Buddhist when times are bad, and Taoist in old age.

[zombiewolf]

Quoted from Robert Anton Wilson: Old Chinese proverb says: the wise person is Confucian when times are good, Buddhist when times are bad, and Taoist in old age.

Haha, that is good...


My favorite Taoist short is;

The most profound music is also the most subtle...:cool:


ZW :peace:

[famewalk]

Be bent and you will remain straight.
Be vacant, and you will remain full.
Be worn, and you will remain new.

Lao Tzu.