Giving birth and nourishing, Bearing yet not possessing, Working yet not taking credit, Leading yet not dominating, This is the Primal Virtue.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the virtues of selflessness, humility, and nurturing in leadership and creation.
Laozi emphasizes the importance of performing actions without attachment or desire for recognition. This perspective advocates for a nurturing and supportive approach to life and leadership, where giving and supporting others are valued over seeking personal gain or control.
In practice
In a leadership seminar, this quote can serve as a reminder to leaders about the importance of humility.
If you understand others you are smart._x000D_ If you understand yourself you are illuminated._x000D_ If you overcome others you are powerful._x000D_ If you overcome yourself you have strength._x000D_ If you know how to be satisfied you are rich._x000D_ If you can act with vigor, you have a will._x000D_ If you don't lose your objectives you can be long-lasting._x000D_ If you die without loss, you are eternal.
When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.
A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.
In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it.
Rule your mind with serenity rather than with force and manipulation.
I found I wasn't asking good enough questions because I assumed I knew something. I would box them into a corner with a badly formed question, and they didn't know how to get out of it. Now, I let them take me through it step by step, and I listen.
No man can perform so little as not to have reason to congratulate himself on his merits, when he beholds the multitude that live in total idleness, and have never yet endeavoured to be useful.
If you cast away one cross, you will certainly find another, and perhaps a heavier.
But man's capacities have never been measured; nor are we to judge of what he can do by any precedents, so little have been tried.
The reward of one duty is the power to fulfill another.
As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.
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