Tao Te Ching

Why are excessive care and great anxiety alike bad for one? The very reason I have anxiety is because I have a body. If I have not body why would I be anxious?
Therefore if he who administers the empire, esteems it as his own body, then he is worthy to be trusted with the empire.

The Wise Man doth not hoard. The more he giveth, the more he hath; the

more he watereth, the more is he watered himself.

The wise man considereth even

easy things hard, so that even hard things are easy to him.

goodness, if it is not sincere, is not goodness.

Heaven is eternal, earth is lasting. The reason why heaven and earth are eternal and lasting is because they do not live for themselves; that is the reason they will ever endure.

to desire the things of sense is to know the freedom of spirituality; and to desire is to learn the limitation of matter. These two things spirit and matter, so different in nature, have the same origin. This unity of origin is the mystery of mysteries, but it is the gateway to spirituality.

His doctrine appears to lead one to aspire after self-effacement and obscurity.”

Put aside your haughty airs, your many needs, affected robes and exaggerated importance. These add no real value to your person. That is my advice to you, and it is all I have to offer.”

I have heard it said that a good merchant conceals his treasures, as though his warehouses were empty. The sage of highest worth assumes a countenance and outward mien as though he were stupid.