Top 90 Deng Ming-Dao Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “Things cannot forever go downward. There are limits to everything – even the cold, and the darkness, and the wind, and the dying.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

52. “Eventually, the time of action must come. When this happens, be a winner! Don’t settle for mediocre results. Don’t try to stay even. Go for it all!”

— Deng Ming-Dao

53. “It is said that if one chooses to pray to a rock with enough devotion, even that rock will come alive.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

54. “That is why spiritual progress is slow: not because no one will tell us the secrets, but because we ourselves must overcome sentiment and fear before we can grasp it.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

55. “When it is time to part, then it is time to part. There should be no regrets. The beauty of marriage is like the fleeting perfection of a snowflake.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

56. “If you hold a real weapon in your hand, you will feel its character strongly. It begs to be used. It is fearsome. Its only purpose is death, and its power is not just in the material from which it is made but also from the intention of its makers.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

57. “Every ordinary moment, every little detail should be a celebration of your personal understanding. Your smallest act should be permeated with reverence.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

58. “Go through life without showing off, attracting attention to yourself, or making flamboyant gestures. These will only attract the hostility of others. The wise accomplish all that they want without arousing the envy or scorn of others.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

59. “The idea that each of us can be directly spiritual is radical. Most religions are based not on teaching adherents to be directly spiritual, but in persuading them to trust in the intercession of ministers or priests. The problem with this approach is that we cannot gain access to spirituality except through the medium of a fallible human being. If we want to see Tao, we need only open our eyes and trust what we see.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

60. “Turn your face to the sun, as flowers know how to do.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

61. “Only through lighting a living fire within ourselves can we dance quickly and spontaneously enough to meet the rhythm of life.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

62. “Life is a constant series of opportunities. If we don’t reach out for things, if we don’t take advantage of what comes our way, then we cannot be in harmony with the essential nature of life.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

63. “Those who attain the middle Dominate the whole.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

64. “What facets of your personality are encumbrances? What personal aspects prevent you from being independent? These are the areas that will define your self-cultivation, for you must strive to stand alone.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

65. “Let us so absorb integrity – experiencing both its triumphs and defeats – that we do the right thing intuitively.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

66. “Whatever comes to you, you must engage it somehow. You receive it, you may alter the circumstance and let it go, you may interject something of your own into it, or you may knowingly let it pass. Whatever you do, there is no need to be apathetic toward life. Instead, full participation in all things is the surest way to happiness, vitality, success, and a deep knowledge of Tao.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

67. “Never stop trying to cultivate the sacred inside you.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

68. “The primary point of this existence is to live, and all living things move and grow. Therefore meditation should be integrated with the flow of life. It should not dominate above all else.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

69. “To be a Taoist, one need not engage in fanatical denial of any part of life, nor does one need to leave family and career in order to gain a foothold on the path. One need only balance the various parts of one’s personality and provide them with a strong focus.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

70. “If we know how to adapt, we end up being superior.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

71. “If you go personally to war, you cross the line yourself. You sacrifice ideals for survival and the fury of killing. That alters you forever. That is why no one rushes to be a veteran. Think before you want to change so unalterably. The stakes are not merely one’s life, but one’s very humanity.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

72. “Why is it so hard to find liberation? Because our own minds are the source of our difficulties. Eliminate desire, accept personal shortcomings, and work toward a patient elimination of the mind’s own hunger for outward satisfaction.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

73. “Life is but one dream flowing into another.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

74. “To simply be ourselves is the greatest challenge but the simplest spiritual technique. A.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

75. “Spirituality is creativity. Only with creativity can you remold your personality into a spiritual vehicle.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

76. “What good is self-cultivation and wisdom if you just keep it for yourself? Knowledge is meant to be used, and if you can use it on behalf of others, you should.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

77. “It is secondary whether we choose belief or defiance. What is precious is that we are always able to choose.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

78. “In nature there is no alienation. Everything belongs.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

79. “It is up to each of us to sing as we feel moved by the overall song of life.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

80. “A true master is indifferent to the ways of society.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

81. “No. No. No. This ruins a child. Firmness, consistency, and patience are vital. However when it comes to a child’s curiosity, individuality, or initiative there should never be any discouragement.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

82. “The path is difficult to ensure worthiness. The lazy look elsewhere, The persevering find riches.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

83. “If we believe in the divine as cosmic family, we relegate ourselves to perpetual adolescence. If we regard the divine as supreme government, we are forever victims of unfathomable officialdom.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

84. “We must not fall into the trap of waiting so long for the big things that we let numerous small chances slip right by us.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

85. “There is injustice in this world, yes. But there is no need to add to it.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

86. “You could tell the secret of life ten times over, and it would still be safe. After all, the secret is only known when people make it real in their own lives, not when they simply hear it.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

87. “When admiring a painting, Don’t examine the paint. When meeting an artist, Don’t look at the brush.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

88. “There is no utopia. There never will be. There is only the valiant attempt of each person to live spiritually in a world where spirituality is almost impossible.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

89. “There is an underbelly of terror to all life. It is suffering, it is hurt. Deep within all of us are intense fears that have left few of us whole. Life’s terrors haunt us, attack us, leave ugly cuts. To buffer ourselves, we dwell on beauty, we collect things, we fall in love, we desperately try to make something lasting in our lives. We take beauty as the only worthwhile thing in this existence, but it cannot veil cursing, violence, randomness, and injustice.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

90. “The freedom to choose and to change belongs to us.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

91. “We cannot allow ourselves to be hobbled by the woes and alienation of our race or nation. It is our responsibility to overcome these, even if we can only succeed in our hearts.”

— Deng Ming-Dao

92. “Our subjectivity is a mirrored, spiked casket. When will we see that all we have done is surround ourselves with our own illusions? Only when we realize our true nature does the casket disappear.”

— Deng Ming-Dao