A library of wisdom
Quotes, every concept, every voice
622 hand-picked quotes from the world's wisdom traditions, each linked to its source concept. Filter by concept below, or scroll through the whole library.
“The sage does not accumulate. The more he does for others, the more he has. The more he gives, the more he possesses.”
“Thirty spokes share the wheel's hub. It is the centre hole that makes it useful.”
“I have three treasures which I hold and keep. The first is compassion. The second is frugality. The third is not daring to be ahead of others.”
“When you are content to be simply yourself and do not compare or compete, everybody will respect you.”
“Once upon a time, Chuang Tzu dreamt he was a butterfly. He did not know he was Chuang Tzu. Suddenly he awoke. Now he does not know whether he was Chuang Tzu dreaming he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he is Chua…”
“A good cook changes his knife once a year, because he cuts. A bad cook changes his knife once a month, because he hacks. The Cook Ting follows the openings — his knife is nineteen years old, and the edge is as fresh as t…”
“All men know the use of the useful, but no one knows the use of the useless.”
“Flow with whatever may happen, and let your mind be free. Stay centred by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.”
“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
“A goal is not always meant to be reached. It often serves simply as something to aim at.”
“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.”
“The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel. Stop watching the reel. Live the scene.”
“Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.”
“Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.”
“You and I are all as much continuous with the physical universe as a wave is continuous with the ocean.”
“The Tao Te Ching is partly in praise of anarchy. It says that the more you make laws, the more thieves you create.”
“Wei wu wei — "do not do." Action by non-action. A practical political handbook.”
“The way to do is to be.”
“When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few other things that get in the way, sooner or later you will discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known to those of the Uncarved Block.”
“A clever mind is not a heart. Knowledge does not really care, wisdom does.”
“When the small man hears of the Tao, he laughs out loud. If he did not laugh, it would not be the Tao.”
“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”
“When you breathe in, you take in someone else's pain. When you breathe out, you send out relief. The practice is about reversing the habit of avoidance.”
“The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.”
“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It is a relationship between equals.”
“Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.”
“Be grateful to everyone.”
“Drive all blames into one.”
“Whatever you meet unexpectedly, join with meditation.”
“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”