Tao Te Ching Leadership Quotes

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.

Why are the people rebellious? Because the rulers interfere too much. Therefore they are rebellious.

In caring for others and serving heaven,
There is nothing like using restraint.

In dwelling, be close to the land. In meditation, go deep in the heart.

All streams flow to the sea because it is lower than they are. Humility gives it its power.

Accept disgrace willingly… Accept being unimportant… Surrender yourself humbly; then you can be trusted to care for all things. Love the world as your own self; then you can truly care for all things.

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.

Why is the sea king of a hundred streams? Because it lies below them… If the sage would guide the people, he must serve with humility. If he would lead them, he must follow behind. In this way when the sage rules, the people will not feel oppressed.

The world is ruled by letting things take their course. It cannot be ruled by interfering.

A man is born gentle and weak. At death he is hard and stiff.

Practice non-action. Work without doing.

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

Violence, even well intentioned, always rebounds upon oneself.

Going forward seems like retreat.

I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.

Therefore the stiff and unbending is the disciple of death. The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life.

Yet mystery and imagination arise from the same source. This source is called darkness … Darkness within darkness, the gateway to all understanding.