Lao Tseu citations

Lao Tseu ou Laozi ou Lao Zi , plus communément appelé en Chine Tàishàng lǎojūn , de son vrai nom Li Er , aurait été un sage chinois et, selon la tradition, un contemporain de Confucius . Il est considéré a posteriori comme le père fondateur du taoïsme. Il serait né dans le pays de Chu du royaume des Zhou et serait parti pour une retraite spirituelle vers l’ouest de la Chine actuelle avec une destination inconnue. Les informations historiques le concernant sont rares et incertaines et sa biographie se développe à partir de la dynastie Han, essentiellement à partir d’éléments surnaturels et religieux ; quelques chercheurs sceptiques estiment depuis la fin du XXe siècle qu'il s’agit d’un personnage fictif ou composite, et non proprement historique,.

Le Tao Tö King que la tradition lui attribue est un texte majeur du taoïsme, considéré comme important par d'autres courants également. Lao Tseu est considéré par les taoïstes comme un dieu et comme leur ancêtre commun.

Il est représenté comme un vieillard à la barbe blanche, parfois monté sur un buffle. Wikipedia  

✵ 604 av. J.-C.
Lao Tseu photo

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Dao de jing
Lao Tseu
Lao Tseu: 89   citations 1   J'aime

Lao Tseu citations célèbres

Lao Tseu Citations

“On régit un grand État comme on fait frire un petit poisson.”

fr
Celui qui sait faire frire un petit poisson ne doit pas le remuer trop souvent.
Tao-tö king, 1967

“Parler rarement est conforme à la nature.”

fr
Tao-tö king, 1967

Lao Tseu: Citations en anglais

“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

“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.”

Laozi livre Dao de jing

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

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

Laozi livre Dao de jing

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

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

Laozi livre Dao de jing

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 59 as interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)
Contexte: 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.”

Laozi livre Dao de jing

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 5, as interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)
Contexte: 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
Variante: 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.”

Laozi livre Dao de jing

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 41
Contexte: 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.”

Laozi livre Dao de jing

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 1, as interpreted by Ursula K. LeGuin (1998)
Contexte: 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.”

Laozi livre Dao de jing

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 1, as interpreted by Ursula K. LeGuin (1998)
Contexte: 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.”

Laozi livre Dao de jing

Variante: 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.
Contexte: 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.

“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
Variante: 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.
Contexte: "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."

“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.”

Laozi livre Dao de jing

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 1, as interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)
Contexte: 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.

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

Laozi livre Dao de jing

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 21, as interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)
Contexte: 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.

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

Laozi livre Dao de jing

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 41
Contexte: 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.”

Laozi livre Dao de jing

Source: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 1, Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English (1972)
Contexte: 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.”

Laozi livre Dao de jing

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]
Contexte: 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.

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