Lao Tzu Quotes on Knowledge
The Daodejing's epistemology is organized around the limits of conceptual knowledge: the Dao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Dao, the name that can be named is not the eternal name. Genuine understanding for the sage is not an accumulation of distinctions but a return to the formless source from which distinctions arise — for learning, one gains daily; for the Dao, one loses daily. The teaching of wu-wei knowing parallels the ethical teaching of wu-wei action: the sage who has stripped away the categories of conventional discrimination perceives directly the operation of the Dao in things, and acts accordingly without imposing the artificial distinctions through which civilizations construct their characteristic forms of suffering.
Quotes
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“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”
interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992) | Variant translation by Lin Yutang : "He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise". -
“Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.”
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 56 -
“Attributed to Laozi. Laozi speaking to Confucius. Quoted in James Legge, Texts of Taoism, 34; Quoted from Will Durant , Our Oriental Heritage .”
Those about whom you inquire have moulded with their bones into dust. Nothing but their words remain. When the hour of the great man has struck he rises to leadership; but before his time has come he is hampered in all that he attempts. I have heard that the successful merchant carefully conceals his wealth, and acts as though he had nothing—that the great man, though abounding in achievements, is -
“The Tao that can be expressed is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be defined is not the unchanging name. Non-existence is called the antecedent of heaven and earth ; Existence is the mother of all things. From eternal non-existence, therefore, we serenely observe the mysterious beginning of the Universe ; From eternal existence we clearly see the apparent distinctions. These two are the same”
translated by Ch'u Ta-Kao (1904) -
“Also as Tao called Tao is not Tao.”
The Tao that can be expressed is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be defined is not the unchanging name. Non-existence is called the antecedent of heaven and earth ; Existence is the mother of all things. From eternal non-existence, therefore, we serenely observe the mysterious beginning of the Universe ; From eternal existence we clearly see the apparent distinctions. These two are the same -
“Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English (1972)”
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. The named is the mother of ten thousand things. Ever desireless, one can see the mystery. Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations. These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as darkness. Darkness within darkness. T -
“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 unnameable is the eternally real. Naming is the origin of all particular things. Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations. Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source. This source is called darkness. Darkness within darkness. The -
“Since before time and space were, the Tao is. It is beyond is and is not . How do I know this is true? I look inside myself and see.”
Chapter 21 | interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992) -
“The Tao is like a well: used but never used up. It is like the eternal void: filled with infinite possibilities. It is hidden but always present. I don't know who gave birth to it. It is older than God .”
Chapter 4 | interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992) -
“The Tao is like a bellows: it is empty yet infinitely capable. The more you use it, the more it produces; the more you talk of it, the less you understand.”
Chapter 5 | interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992) -
“Variant translation by Lin Yutang : "He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise".”
Chapter 33 -
“To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.”
Chapter 48