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> 40 quotes tagged "humility"
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Heaven and Earth last forever. Why do they last forever? They are unborn, so ever living.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 7
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The supreme good is like water, Which nourishes all things without trying to.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 8
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Favor and disgrace seem like fear to the world. Honor and big position seem like danger to the world.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 13
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The highest type of ruler is one of whose existence the people are barely aware.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 17
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He who stands on tiptoe is not steady; He who strides cannot maintain the pace.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 24
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He who stands on tiptoe does not stand firm; He who stretches himself does not attain.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 26
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Know the male, yet keep to the female; Be a ravine to all under heaven.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 28
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When the country is in harmony with the Tao, horses run freely. When it departs from the Tao, war horses are bred.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 58
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The ancient masters were careful as someone crossing an iced-over stream. Alert as a warrior in enemy territory.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 65
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My teachings are easy to understand and easy to put into practice. Yet, the world cannot understand them.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 70
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The beginner's mind is not ignorance but openness. Wisdom begins when we acknowledge what we do not know. Seek teaching with humility and patience.I Ching, Hexagram 4: Youthful Folly
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The mountain lowers itself beneath the earth. True greatness requires humility. In making yourself small, you become immeasurable.I Ching, Hexagram 15: Modesty / Humility
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The Tao-man in governing hides his intelligence; he blots out his symbols of majesty. Depending on the Tao, he does away with cleverness: he acts in common with the people, and everything is done on public ground.Huai Nan Tzu, Essay 1
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In humility you will find salvation; in bending you will find freedom. Submission and yielding paradoxically liberate leaders.Huai Nan Tzu, Essay 5
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Improve yourself before attempting to guide others.T'ai-Shang Kan-Ying P'ien – Moral Injunctions
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Refrain from exposing others' shortcomings or advertising your own virtues.T'ai-Shang Kan-Ying P'ien – Moral Injunctions
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Endure shame without resentment.T'ai-Shang Kan-Ying P'ien – Moral Injunctions
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Accept kindness with gratitude rather than expectation.T'ai-Shang Kan-Ying P'ien – Moral Injunctions
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Here are my three treasures. Guard and keep them! The first is pity; the second, frugality; the third, refusal to be foremost of all things under heaven. For only he that pities is truly able to be brave; Only he that is frugal is able to be profuse. Only he that refuses to be foremost of all things is truly able to become chief of all Ministers.Tao Te Ching, Chapter 67
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The best charioteers do not rush ahead; The best fighters do not make displays of wrath. The greatest conqueror wins without joining issue; The best user of men acts as though he were their inferior. This is called the power that comes of not contending, is called the capacity to use men, the secret of being mated to heaven.Tao Te Ching, Chapter 68
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A great nation is like a low-lying delta — the meeting place of all rivers, the feminine of the world. The feminine always overcomes the masculine through stillness; by stillness she takes the lower position. A great state, by placing itself below a small state, wins the small state over. Both gain what they seek when the greater one learns to be low.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 61
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Yield and overcome. Bend and be straight. Empty and be full. Wear out and be new. Have little and gain. Have much and be confused. Therefore the sage embraces the One and becomes a model for the world. He does not put himself on display, and therefore shines. He does not justify himself, and therefore is distinguished. He does not boast, and therefore has merit. He does not contend, and therefore no one can contend with him.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 22
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A thousand years of moss on these rocks. I have been here thirty years and feel I arrived this morning. The moss has no such illusions.Han Shan, Cold Mountain Poems
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The highest good is like water. Water gives life to the ten thousand things and does not strive. It flows in places men reject and so is like the Tao.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 8
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No fight: No blame.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 8
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Other men are clear and bright, But I alone am dim and weak. Other men are sharp and clever, But I alone am dull and stupid. I drift like the waves of the sea, Without direction, like the restless wind.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 20
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Retire when the work is done. This is the way of heaven.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 9
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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.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 13
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Accept disgrace willingly. Accept misfortune as the human condition. What do you mean by 'Accept disgrace willingly'? Accept being unimportant. Do not be concerned with loss and gain. This is called 'accepting disgrace willingly.'Tao Te Ching – Chapter 13
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Therefore the sage goes about doing nothing, teaching no talking. The ten thousand things rise and fall without cease, Creating, yet not possessing, Working, yet not taking credit, Work is done, then forgotten. Therefore it lasts for ever.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 2
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Heaven and Earth last for ever. Why do Heaven and Earth last for ever? They are unborn, So ever living.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 7
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Not putting on a display, they shine forth. Not justifying themselves, they are distinguished. Not boasting, they receive recognition. Not bragging, they never falter. They do not quarrel, So no one quarrels with them.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 22
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He who makes a show is not enlightened. He who is self-righteous is not respected. He who boasts achieves nothing. He who brags will not endure.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 24
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Achieve results, but never glory in them. Achieve results, but never boast. Achieve results, but never be proud. Force is followed by loss of strength. This is not the way of Tao. That which goes against the Tao comes to an early end.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 30
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When many people are being killed, they should be mourned in heartfelt sorrow. That is why a victory must be observed like a funeral.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 31
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It fulfills its purpose silently and makes no claim. It nourishes the ten thousand things, and yet is not their lord.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 34
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It does not show greatness, and is therefore really great.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 34
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Therefore the humble is the root of the noble. The low is the foundation of the high. Princes and lords consider themselves 'orphaned,' 'widowed,' and 'worthless.' Do they not depend on being humble?Tao Te Ching – Chapter 39
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Too much success is not an advantage. Do not tinkle like jade or clatter like stone chimes.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 39
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The sage is shy and humble — to the world he seems confusing. Men look to him and listen. He behaves like a little child.Tao Te Ching – Chapter 49