Many great lines have been written to help us, but my personal favourites are the four lines at the end of verse 36 of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu:

‘The soft overcomes the hard.

The slow overcomes the fast.

Let your workings remain a mystery.

Just show people the results.’

These four simple lines have helped me through some difficult times.

There is much wisdom contained in these lines and it is well worth learning them and thinking about them when you have some quiet time.

The first line helps me to deal with confrontational situations – you cannot diffuse anger by being angry yourself. Patience and understanding will always win out in the end.

The second line teaches me that life is not a race, it is a journey. If we go too fast, we will miss something beautiful or important to us. It is good to be still often.

The third line I see as avoiding bragging and making  loud claims for yourself. Humility is important and, if you are good at what you do, people will see that anyway. If you are always talking about yourself, how will you learn anything from anyone else?

Which leads to the final line. Be patient, in the knowledge that if you create with the right attitude, the results will speak for themselves.

I often smile to myself and wonder how Lao Tzu may have summed up his masterpiece. I’d like to think it would be something along the lines of:

‘simple words from an old man in sandals’