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The excellence of the mind is in abysmal stillness.
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“The excellence of the mind is in abysmal stillness.”

Lao Tzu

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Source
Tao Teh King
Date
ancient
English wording
James Legge — Translator · from Classical Chinese
Meaning

Meaning of “The excellence of the mind is in abysmal…”

The water analogy extends inward: excellence of mind is associated with depth and stillness rather than constant display, rivalry, or restless reaction.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Tao Teh King, chapter 8, James Legge translation; the line is one element in a broader comparison between highest excellence and water.

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CalmInner PeaceMindMindfulnessPeacePhilosophyShortThought-Provoking Quotes That Invite ReflectionMeditationSilenceSpiritual
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Purity and stillness give the correct law to all under heaven.
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“Purity and stillness give the correct law to all under heaven.”

Lao Tzu · Tao Teh King · ancient
Meaning & context

The line gives stillness a governing role: clarity and quiet are treated as conditions from which more ordered action can emerge.

Source details

Tao Teh King, chapter 45, James Legge translation; the sentence follows the claim that being still overcomes heat.

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Who can (make) the muddy water (clear)? Let it be still, and it will gradually become clear.
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“Who can (make) the muddy water (clear)? Let it be still, and it will gradually become clear.”

Lao Tzu · Tao Teh King · ancient
Meaning & context

The muddy-water image makes stillness a condition for clarity: agitation can keep disturbance suspended, while enough quiet allows what is clouding perception to settle without force.

Source details

Tao Teh King, Chapter 15, James Legge translation, Project Gutenberg #216. The next sentence asks how the condition of rest is secured and answers through the gradual relation between movement and rest; the passage belongs to Taoist philosophy, not a clinical relaxation technique.

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The farther that one goes out (from himself), the less he knows.
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“The farther that one goes out (from himself), the less he knows.”

Lao Tzu · Tao Teh King · ancient
Meaning & context

The paradox warns that outward accumulation can become a distraction from direct understanding; more movement is not automatically the same as deeper knowledge.

Source details

Tao Teh King, chapter 47, James Legge translation; the sentence belongs to a passage about knowing without compulsive outward searching.

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Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.
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“Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.”

Kahlil Gibran · The Prophet · 1923
Voice: Fictional character · Almustafa
Meaning & context

In the work’s poetic frame, inward knowledge exists before it is fully verbalized; the line values listening closely to one’s own interior understanding without claiming that intuition is automatically infallible.

Source details

The Prophet, section “Self-Knowledge.” A man asks Almustafa to speak about self-knowledge, and Almustafa answers with this line before describing the heart’s knowledge and the self as a boundless sea. The represented wording is the 1923 text preserved by Wikisource/Project Gutenberg #58585.

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The state of vacancy should be brought to the utmost degree, and that of stillness guarded with unwearying vigour.
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“The state of vacancy should be brought to the utmost degree, and that of stillness guarded with unwearying vigour.”

Lao Tzu · Tao Teh King · ancient
Meaning & context

Stillness is not presented as passivity without effort; it is something to be guarded deliberately while the changing processes of life continue around it.

Source details

Tao Teh King, chapter 16, James Legge translation; the following lines connect stillness with the recurring return of things to their root.

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