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Seeing into darkness is clarity.
Knowing how to yield is strength.
Use your own light
and return to the source of light.
This is called practicing eternity.

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Topics

Nature

More quotes by Laozi

The Tao that can be expressed is not the eternal Tao;
The name that can be defined is not the unchanging name.

Ch'u Ta-Kao (1904)

The tao that can be described
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be spoken
is not the eternal Name.

J.H.McDonald (1996)

The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
The unnameable is the eternally real.

interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao;
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.

Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English (1972)

A good traveler has no fixed plans
and is not intent upon arriving.

interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)

All Laozi quotes →

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Edward Gibbon The History of the Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire (1776)

Matter gave birth to a passion that has no equal, which proceeded from something contrary to nature. Then there arises a disturbance in its whole body.

Jesus

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Laozi (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.