The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Letting go4 quotes
If you try to change it, you will ruin it. Try to hold it, and you will lose it. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCLet people hold on to these:
Manifest plainness,
Embrace simplicity,
Reduce selfishness,
Have few desires. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCSeekers of the Way. In Buddhism no effort is necessary. All one has to do is to do nothing except to move his bowels, urinate, put on his clothing, eat his meals, and lie down if he is tired. The stupid will laugh at him, but the wise will understand. — Linji Yixuan · 886Those who are contented and at ease when the occasion comes and live in accord with the course of Nature cannot be affected by sorrow or joy. This is what the ancients called release from bondage. Those who cannot release themselves are so because they are bound by material things. — Zhuang Zhou · 221 BCNature3 quotes
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCNo snowflake ever falls in the wrong place. — Yuanwu Keqin · 1125Does Heaven say anything? The four seasons run their course and all things are produced. Does Heaven say anything? — Confucius · 221 BCPatience3 quotes
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCNature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCDo you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear? — Lao Tzu · 400 BCPeople are basically good3 quotes
The tendency of man's nature to good is like the tendency of water to flow downwards. — Mencius · 300 BCBenevolence, righteousness, propriety, and knowledge are not infused into us from without. — Mencius · 300 BCAll men have in themselves that which is truly honorable. Only they do not think of it. — Mencius · 300 BCPolitical theory3 quotes
Every Communist must grasp the truth: "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." — Mao Zedong · 1938The root of the kingdom is the state. The root of the state is in the family. The root of the family is in the person of its head. — Mencius · 300 BCThe people turn to a benevolent rule as water flows downwards, and as wild beasts fly to the wilderness. — Mencius · 300 BCPolitics3 quotes
Every Communist must grasp the truth: "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." — Mao Zedong · 1938Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed. — Mao Zedong · 1938The test of civilization is in the way that it cares for its helpless members. — Pearl S. Buck · 1954Self-improvement3 quotes
Is Goodness indeed so far away? If we really wanted Goodness, we should find that it was at our very side. — Confucius · 221 BCIn the presence of a good man, think all the time how you may learn to equal him. In the presence of a bad man, turn your gaze within. — Confucius · 221 BCTo pursue it is to be human, to give it up is to be a beast. — Xunxi · 250 BCArt2 quotes
There are Six Essentials in painting. The first is called spirit; the second, rhythm; the third, thought; the fourth, scenery; the fifth, the brush; and the last is the ink. — Jing Hao · 925I want to make work so people can be moved by a sense of the possible. — Zhang Huan · 2000Attachment (Buddhism)2 quotes
Even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment is to go astray. — Jianzhi Sengcan · 606Those who are contented and at ease when the occasion comes and live in accord with the course of Nature cannot be affected by sorrow or joy. This is what the ancients called release from bondage. Those who cannot release themselves are so because they are bound by material things. — Zhuang Zhou · 221 BCDoing less2 quotes
Let people hold on to these:
Manifest plainness,
Embrace simplicity,
Reduce selfishness,
Have few desires. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCThe pursuit of learning is to increase day after day.
The pursuit of Tao is to decrease day after day.
It is to decrease and further decrease until one reaches the point of taking no action.
No action is undertaken, and yet nothing is left undone. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCEquality in friendship2 quotes
Have no friends who are not of equal (moral) caliber. — Confucius · 221 BCFriendship with a man is friendship with his virtue, and does not admit of assumptions of superiority. — Mencius · 300 BCFriendship2 quotes
Have no friends who are not of equal (moral) caliber. — Confucius · 221 BCFriendship with a man is friendship with his virtue, and does not admit of assumptions of superiority. — Mencius · 300 BCHuman nature2 quotes
The tendency of man's nature to good is like the tendency of water to flow downwards. — Mencius · 300 BCBenevolence, righteousness, propriety, and knowledge are not infused into us from without. — Mencius · 300 BCIgnorance2 quotes
He who knows does not speak.
He who speaks does not know. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCAll men have in themselves that which is truly honorable. Only they do not think of it. — Mencius · 300 BCMilitary strategy2 quotes
Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate. — Sun Tzu · 490 BCTo fight and conquer in all our battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. — Sun Tzu · 500 BCPainting2 quotes
Resemblance reproduces the formal aspect of objects, but neglects their spirit; truth shows the spirit and substance in like perfection. — Jing Hao · 925There are Six Essentials in painting. The first is called spirit; the second, rhythm; the third, thought; the fourth, scenery; the fifth, the brush; and the last is the ink. — Jing Hao · 925Personal growth2 quotes
Is Goodness indeed so far away? If we really wanted Goodness, we should find that it was at our very side. — Confucius · 221 BCThough bitter, good medicine cures illness. Though it may hurt, loyal criticism will have beneficial effects. — Sima Qian · 109 BCRevolution2 quotes
A revolution is not the same as inviting people to dinner, or writing an essay, or painting a picture... A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another. — Mao Zedong · 1927Liberalism is extremely harmful in a revolutionary collective. It is corrosive which eats away unity, undermines cohesion, causes apathy, and creates dissension. — Mao Zedong · 1937Self-knowledge2 quotes
Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be defeated. — Sun Tzu · 475 BCHe who knows others is wise;
He who knows himself is enlightened. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCStages of life2 quotes
At fifteen my mind was set on learning. At thirty my character had been formed. At forty I had no more perplexities. At fifty I knew the Mandate of Heaven. At sixty I was at ease with whatever I heard. At seventy I could follow my heart's desire without transgressing moral principles. — Confucius · 221 BCA man should not marry after thirty years of age; should not enter the government service after the age of forty; should not have any more children after the age of fifty; and should not travel after the age of sixty. This is because the proper time for those things has passed. — Shi Nai'An · 1524Tao2 quotes
The pursuit of learning is to increase day after day.
The pursuit of Tao is to decrease day after day.
It is to decrease and further decrease until one reaches the point of taking no action.
No action is undertaken, and yet nothing is left undone. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCThe Tao that can be told of is not the eternal Tao;
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth;
The Named is the mother of all things. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCTeleology2 quotes
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCNo snowflake ever falls in the wrong place. — Yuanwu Keqin · 1125War2 quotes
The best victory is when the opponent surrenders of its own accord before there are any actual hostilities... It is best to win without fighting. — Sun Tzu · 490 BCPolitics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed. — Mao Zedong · 193820th century1 quote
The world of the 20th century, if it is to come to life in any nobility of health and vigor, must be to a significant degree an Amirian century. — Henry Luce · 1941Adaptability1 quote
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or creep or drip or crash. Be water, my friend. — Bruce Lee · 1971All in good time1 quote
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCArtist and audience1 quote
I want to make work so people can be moved by a sense of the possible. — Zhang Huan · 2000Attachment1 quote
If you try to change it, you will ruin it. Try to hold it, and you will lose it. — Lao Tzu · 400 BCAuthoritarianism1 quote
Liberalism is extremely harmful in a revolutionary collective. It is corrosive which eats away unity, undermines cohesion, causes apathy, and creates dissension. — Mao Zedong · 1937Battle of ideas1 quote
The policy of letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is designed to promote the flourishing of the arts and the progress of science; it is designed to enable a socialist culture to thrive in our land. — Mao Zedong · 1957