Laozi Quotes
78 Quotes to Inspire Balance, Harmony, and Inner Peace from the Ancient Chinese Philosopher

Discover the profound wisdom of Laozi, an ancient Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism. Explore his famous quotes on intelligence, authenticity, silence, letting go, self-acceptance, and more. Let Laozi's teachings inspire you to live a life of balance, harmony, and inner peace.

Laozi, a semi-legendary ancient Chinese philosopher, is widely regarded as the founder of Taoism and the author of the Tao Te Ching. Although his existence is debated by scholars, traditional accounts suggest that he was born as Li Er in the 6th century BC and served as the royal archivist for the Zhou court before retiring into seclusion. Laozi's work had a profound impact on Chinese religious movements and philosophers.

Laozi’s name is actually an honorific title meaning “old” or “venerable master”. His personal name was Li Er, which means "plum tree". Legends suggest a connection between his birth and a plum tree. He was also known by the posthumous name Dan, meaning "Long-Ear" or "the Long-Eared One". Laozi is often referred to by different names and titles in various texts and records throughout history.

Despite debates about his existence, Laozi remains an influential figure in Chinese culture. His teachings continue to be studied and revered, shaping the philosophy of Taoism and influencing subsequent Chinese philosophers.

✵ 604 BC
Laozi photo

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Laozi: 79   quotes 137   likes

Famous Laozi Quotes

“Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner.”

Also: "Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner"
Also: "If you care what people think, you will always be their prisoner"
Appears in Stephen Mitchell's rendering into English http://terebess.hu/english/tao/mitchell.html#Kap09 of Tao Te Ching chapter 9; but this is an interpretation of Mitchell's which does not appear in the original text or other recognized English translations. Repeated without attribution in Gilliland, Hide Your Goat https://books.google.com/books?id=ziJQdUzCgTIC&pg=PT98&dq=Care+what+other+think+%22you+will+always+be%22+their+prisoner&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDQQ6AEwBGoVChMIpsbNzO69yAIVCU2ICh0mXwIE#v=onepage&q=Care%20what%20other%20think%20%22you%20will%20always%20be%22%20their%20prisoner&f=false, a positive thinking book published in 2013.
Misattributed

“He who knows does not speak; he who speaks does not know.”

Variant: Those who know, do not speak, those who speak, do not know.
Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 56

“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try, the world is beyond the winning.”

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 48, as translated by Raymond B. Blakney (1955)

“He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.”

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 46

Laozi Quotes about people

“With the best leaders when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say, "We have done this ourselves."”

Only the final bold section is connected to Laozi (see Ch. 17 of Tao Te Ching above). The origin of the added first section is unclear.
Misattributed
Variant: A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.
Context: "Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. With the best leaders when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say, "We have done this ourselves."

“A good traveler has no fixed plans
and is not intent upon arriving.
A good artist lets his intuition
lead him wherever it wants.
A good scientist has freed himself of concepts
and keeps his mind open to what is. Thus the Master is available to all people
and doesn't reject anyone.
He is ready to use all situations
and doesn't waste anything.
This is called embodying the light.”

Variants:
A good traveller has no fixed plan and is not intent on arriving.
As quoted in In Search of King Solomon's Mines‎ (2003) by Tahir Shah, p. 217
A true traveller has no fixed plan, and is not intent on arriving.
Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 27, as interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)

“Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. With the best leaders when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say, "We have done this ourselves.”

Only the final bold section is connected to Laozi (see Ch. 17 of Tao Te Ching above). The origin of the added first section is unclear.
Misattributed

Laozi: Trending quotes

“Since before time and space were,
the Tao is.
It is beyond is and is not.”

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 21, as interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)
Context: Since before time and space were,
the Tao is.
It is beyond is and is not.
How do I know this is true?
I look inside myself and see.

Laozi Quotes

“The mark of a moderate man
is freedom from his own ideas.”

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 59 as interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)
Context: The mark of a moderate man
is freedom from his own ideas.
Tolerant like the sky,
all-pervading like sunlight,
firm like a mountain,
supple like a tree in the wind,
he has no destination in view
and makes use of anything
life happens to bring his way.

“The more you use it, the more it produces;
the more you talk of it, the less you understand.”

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 5, as interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)
Context: The Tao is like a bellows:
it is empty yet infinitely capable.
The more you use it, the more it produces;
the more you talk of it, the less you understand.

“When I am anxious it is because I am living in the future. When I am depressed it is because I am living in the past.”

Attributed to "Jimmy R." in Days of Healing, Days of Joy (1987)
Misattributed
Source: link https://books.google.com/books?id=7QNk4eNvS44C&pg=PA175&lpg=PA175&dq=%22days+of+healing+days+of+joy%22+%22jimmy+r%22&source=bl&ots=C-jAUVg8y8&sig=fB9m-eQ1IvtjJV6Ncz8mZ30RRHo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMIrYnZyNDlyAIVV_5jCh07uQOs#v=onepage&q=%22days%20of%20healing%20days%20of%20joy%22%20%22jimmy%20r%22&f=false

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”

This quotation's origin is actually unknown, however it is not found in the Dao De Jing.
生命是一连串的自发的自然变化。逆流而动只会徒增伤悲。接受现实,万物自然循着规律发展。
Misattributed
Variant: Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them — that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.

“Without the laughter, there would be no Tao.”

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 41
Context: Scholars of the highest class, when they hear about the Tao, take it and practice it earnestly.
Scholars of the middle class, when they hear of it, take it half earnestly.
Scholars of the lowest class, when they hear of it, laugh at it.
Without the laughter, there would be no Tao.

“Two things, one origin,
but different in name,
whose identity is mystery.
Mystery of all mysteries!
The door to the hidden.”

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 1, as interpreted by Ursula K. LeGuin (1998)
Context: The way you can go
isn't the real way.
The name you can say
isn't the real name.
Heaven and earth
begin in the unnamed:
name's the mother
of the ten thousand things.
So the unwanting soul
sees what's hidden,
and the ever-wanting soul
sees only what it wants.
Two things, one origin,
but different in name,
whose identity is mystery.
Mystery of all mysteries!
The door to the hidden.

“The way you can go
isn't the real way.
The name you can say
isn't the real name.
Heaven and earth
begin in the unnamed:
name's the mother
of the ten thousand things.”

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 1, as interpreted by Ursula K. LeGuin (1998)
Context: The way you can go
isn't the real way.
The name you can say
isn't the real name.
Heaven and earth
begin in the unnamed:
name's the mother
of the ten thousand things.
So the unwanting soul
sees what's hidden,
and the ever-wanting soul
sees only what it wants.
Two things, one origin,
but different in name,
whose identity is mystery.
Mystery of all mysteries!
The door to the hidden.

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

This quotation has been misattributed to Laozi; its origin is actually unknown (see "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime" on Wiktionary). This quotation has also been misattributed to Confucius and Guan Zhong.
Misattributed

“I am not at all interested in immortality, only in the taste of tea.”

From Lu Tong (also spelled as Lu Tung)
Misattributed

“Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.”

Attributed to Laozi in self-help books and on social media, this quotation is of unknown origin and date.
Misattributed

“The Tao that can be expressed is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be defined is not the unchanging name.”

Variant: The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao;
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 1, as translated by Ch'u Ta-Kao (1904)
Also as Tao called Tao is not Tao.
Context: The Tao that can be expressed is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be defined is not the unchanging name.
Non-existence is called the antecedent of heaven and earth; Existence is the mother of all things.
From eternal non-existence, therefore, we serenely observe the mysterious beginning of the Universe; From eternal existence we clearly see the apparent distinctions.
These two are the same in source and become different when manifested.
This sameness is called profundity. Infinite profundity is the gate whence comes the beginning of all parts of the Universe.

“The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
The unnameable is the eternally real.”

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 1, as interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)
Context: The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
The unnameable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.
Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.
Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding.

“Scholars of the highest class, when they hear about the Tao, take it and practice it earnestly.”

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 41
Context: Scholars of the highest class, when they hear about the Tao, take it and practice it earnestly.
Scholars of the middle class, when they hear of it, take it half earnestly.
Scholars of the lowest class, when they hear of it, laugh at it.
Without the laughter, there would be no Tao.

“Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery.”

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 1, Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English (1972)
Context: The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao;
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of ten thousand things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations.
These two spring from the same source but differ in name;
this appears as darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery.

“The tao that can be described
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be spoken
is not the eternal Name.
The nameless is the boundary of Heaven and Earth.
The named is the mother of creation.
Freed from desire, you can see the hidden mystery.
By having desire, you can only see what is visibly real.”

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 1, as translated by J.H.McDonald (1996) http://www.wright-house.com/religions/taoism/tao-te-ching.html [Public domain translation]
Context: The tao that can be described
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be spoken
is not the eternal Name.
The nameless is the boundary of Heaven and Earth.
The named is the mother of creation.
Freed from desire, you can see the hidden mystery.
By having desire, you can only see what is visibly real.
Yet mystery and reality
emerge from the same source.
This source is called darkness.
Darkness born from darkness.
The beginning of all understanding.

“This source is called darkness.
Darkness born from darkness.
The beginning of all understanding.”

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 1, as translated by J.H.McDonald (1996) http://www.wright-house.com/religions/taoism/tao-te-ching.html [Public domain translation]
Context: The tao that can be described
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be spoken
is not the eternal Name.
The nameless is the boundary of Heaven and Earth.
The named is the mother of creation.
Freed from desire, you can see the hidden mystery.
By having desire, you can only see what is visibly real.
Yet mystery and reality
emerge from the same source.
This source is called darkness.
Darkness born from darkness.
The beginning of all understanding.

“When men lack a sense of awe, there will be disaster.”

Source: Tao Te Ching, Chapter 72, translated by Gia Fu Feng

“The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be.”

Variant translation: The more prohibitions there are, the poorer the people will be.
Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 57

“What I hear, I forget. What I say, I remember. What I do, I understand.”

This quotation has also been misattributed to Confucius.
Tell me and I [will] forget. Show me and I [will] remember. Involve me and I [will] understand.
不聞不若聞之,聞之不若見之,見之不若知之,知之不若行之;學至於行之而止矣
From Xun Zi 荀子
Misattributed

“Knowing others is intelligence;
knowing yourself is true wisdom.
Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”

Variant translation by Lin Yutang: "He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise".
Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 33, as interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)

“The Tao is called the Great Mother:
empty yet inexhaustible,
it gives birth to infinite worlds.”

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 6, as interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)

“When the center does not hold, the circle falls apart.”

This is a paraphrase of lines in "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats.
Misattributed

“Qiān lǐ zhī xíng shǐ yú zú xià.”

千里之行始於足下。
A journey of a thousand li starts with a single step.
Variant translations:
A journey of a thousand [miles] starts with a single step.
A journey of a thousand miles started with a first step.
A thousand-mile journey starts from your feet down there.
As translated by Dr. Hilmar Klaus
Every journey begins with a single step.
Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 64, line 12

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