Laozi — "Let people return to making knots on ropes, instead of writing."

"When the great way falls into disuse, there are benevolence and rectitude."

"The sage puts his own person last, and yet it is found in the foremost place; he treats his person as foreign to him, and yet it is preserved."

"No thought, no action, no movement, total stillness: only thus can one manifest the true nature and law of things... and at last become one with heaven and earth."

"Taking things lightly must lead to big difficulties. The sage regards things as difficult, and thereby avoids difficulty."

"Without going out of the door, one can know the whole world. Without peeping through the window, one can see the Way of Heaven. The further one goes, the less one knows."