Daoism Quotes & Sayings

How can anybody who is the head of a nation afford not to be a prag-matist? — Indira Gandhi

In psychoanalysis as in art, God resided in the details, the discovery of which required enormous patience, unyielding seriousness, and the skill of an acrobat - walking a tightrope over memory and speculation, instinct and theory, feeling and denial. — Judith Perelman Rossner

Music is my life - acting's just a hobby. — Steve Burns

Influence is getting others to do what you want them to do because they want to do it - a take on Eisenhower's famous leadership statement — Phil Harding

When I let go of who I am, I become who I might be. — Lao-Tzu

Each moment of life is a step toward death. — Sandra Gulland

You are not anyone's opinion of you. You are whoever you choose to be. — Pamela Morsi

But again, to dealing with border security, is an issue that - it's like having a fire in the back of your house that you need to put out first before you talk about who, who you're going to let in the front door. — Henry Bonilla

Gay marriage won't be more of an issue 25 years from now than interracial marriage is today. — Jared Polis

Luck is what happens to you when fate gets tired of waiting — Gregory David Roberts

The Formless Way
We look at it, and do not see it; it is invisible.
We listen to it, and do not hear it; it is inaudible.
We touch it, and do not feel it; it is intangible.
These three elude our inquiries, and hence merge into one.
Not by its rising, is it bright,
nor by its sinking, is it dark.
Infinite and eternal, it cannot be defined.
It returns to nothingness.
This is the form of the formless, being in non-being.
It is nebulous and elusive.
Meet it, and you do not see its beginning.
Follow it, and you do not see its end.
Stay with the ancient Way
in order to master what is present.
Knowing the primeval beginning is the essence of the Way. — Lao-Tzu

When the past dies, there is mourning, but when the future dies our imaginations are compelled to carry it on. — Gloria Steinem

Everything is out there if you know how to find it, and have the patience. I don't and haven't, but that's my problem. — Tom Holt

The antidote to a meaningless and lawless existence was provided by humanism, a revolutionary new creed that conquered the world during the last few centuries. The humanist religion worships humanity, and expects humanity to play the part that God played in Christianity and Islam, and that the laws of nature played in Buddhism and Daoism. Whereas traditionally the great cosmic plan gave meaning to the life of humans, humanism reverses the roles and expects the experiences of humans to give meaning to the cosmos. According to humanism, humans must draw from within their inner experiences not only the meaning of their own lives, but also the meaning of the entire universe. This is the primary commandment humanism has given us: create meaning for a meaningless world. Accordingly, — Yuval Noah Harari

Newt shook his head, his face a mixture of anger and awe. What you did was half brave and half bloody stupid. Seems like you're pretty good at that. — James Dashner

There is a distinction between what may be called a problem and what may be considered an exercise. The latter serves to drill a student in some technique or procedure, and requires little if any, original thought ... No exercise, then, can always be done with reasonbable dispatch and with a miniumum of creative thinking. In contrast to an exercise, a problem, if it is a good one for its level, should require though on the part of the student. — Howard Whitley Eves

When a not-doing comes upon you, and there is no reflection of yourself to be found, many things can and will be related back to you as knowledge, yet you have no way of knowing how you assimilated that wisdom. — Lujan Matus

The sage does not become trapped in semantics, does not mistake map for territory, but rather "opens things up to the light of Heaven" by flowing with the words, by playing with the words. Once attuned to this flow, the sage need make no special effort to "illumine," for language does it by itself, spontaneously. Language spills over. — Hakim Bey

One gains by losing and loses by gaining. — Lao-Tzu