Lao Tzu Quotes
Lao Tzu, traditionally regarded as the founder of philosophical Taoism, is the legendary author of the Tao Te Ching, one of the most translated works of world literature. Modern scholarship treats Lao Tzu as a partly or wholly legendary figure and the Tao Te Ching as a compilation that took shape in roughly the fourth century BC. The quotes below are attributed to Lao Tzu, organized by topic.
Browse Lao Tzu by topic
Lao Tzu on Freedom
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“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 .”
interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)
Lao Tzu on God
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“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 .”
Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English (1972) -
“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.”
translated by J.H.McDonald (1996)
Lao Tzu on Knowledge
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“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”
interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992) | Variant translation by Lin Yutang : "He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise". -
“Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.”
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 56 -
“Attributed to Laozi. Laozi speaking to Confucius. Quoted in James Legge, Texts of Taoism, 34; Quoted from Will Durant , Our Oriental Heritage .”
Those about whom you inquire have moulded with their bones into dust. Nothing but their words remain. When the hour of the great man has struck he rises to leadership; but before his time has come he is hampered in all that he attempts. I have heard that the successful merchant carefully conceals his wealth, and acts as though he had nothing—that the great man, though abounding in achievements, is -
“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”
translated by Ch'u Ta-Kao (1904) -
“Also as Tao called Tao is not Tao.”
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 -
“Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English (1972)”
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. T -
“interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)”
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 -
“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.”
Chapter 21 | interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992) -
“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.”
Chapter 5 | interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992) -
“Variant translation by Lin Yutang : "He who knows others is learned; he who knows himself is wise".”
Chapter 33 -
“To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.”
Chapter 48
Lao Tzu on Life
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“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 64 -
Attributed to Lao Tzu:
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
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“let people return to the use of knots and be satisfied with their food and pleased with their clothing and content with their homes and happy with their customs let there be another state so near people hear its dogs and chickens but live out their lives without making a visit”
Chapter 80 | translated by Red Pine
Lao Tzu on Nature
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Attributed to Lao Tzu:
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”
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Attributed to Lao Tzu:
“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard.”
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“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.”
translated by Ch'u Ta-Kao (1904) | Also as Tao called Tao is not Tao. -
“A violent wind does not outlast the morning; a squall of rain does not outlast the day. Such is the course of Nature. And if Nature herself cannot sustain her efforts long, how much less can man!”
Chapter 23 | translated by Lionel Giles
Lao Tzu on Politics
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“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.”
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 17 -
“People are difficult to be ruled, Because the ruler governs with personal desire and establishes too many laws to confuse the people.”
Chapter 75 -
“The more prohibitions that are imposed on people, The poorer the people become. The more laws and regulations that exist, The more thieves and brigands appear. The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be.”
Chapter 57 | Variant translation: The more prohibitions there are, the poorer the people will be. -
“People starved because the ruler taxed too heavily.”
Chapter 75
Lao Tzu on Time
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“Those about whom you inquire have moulded with their bones into dust. Nothing but their words remain. When the hour of the great man has struck he rises to leadership; but before his time has come he is hampered in all that he attempts. I have heard that the successful merchant carefully conceals his wealth, and acts as though he had nothing—that the great man, though abounding in achievements, is simple in his manners and appearance. Get rid of your pride and your many ambitions, your affectation and your extravagant aims. Your character gains nothing for all these. This is my advice to you.”
Attributed to Laozi. Laozi speaking to Confucius. Quoted in James Legge, Texts of Taoism, 34; Quoted from Will Durant , Our Oriental Heritage . -
“The Tao is like a well: used but never used up. It is like the eternal void: filled with infinite possibilities. It is hidden but always present. I don't know who gave birth to it. It is older than God .”
Chapter 4 | interpreted by Stephen Mitchell (1992)
Lao Tzu on Truth
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Attributed to Lao Tzu:
“True words are not beautiful; beautiful words are not true.”
Lao Tzu on Virtue
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Attributed to Lao Tzu:
“The best fighter is never angry.”
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“When men lack a sense of awe, there will be disaster.”
translated by Gia Fu Feng -
Attributed to Lao Tzu:
“From caring comes courage.”
Things actually not said by Lao Tzu
A number of widely-shared lines are circulated as Lao Tzu but are in fact from someone else. Did Lao Tzu say these? No. Each entry below pairs the line with the person who actually wrote it.
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Did Lao Tzu say this? No.
“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”
This chain-aphorism has been attributed at various times to Lao Tzu, the Buddha, Confucius, Frank Outlaw, and Margaret Thatcher's father. The earliest verifiable English-language appearance is from the 1970s in American self-help literature. None of the classical Eastern philosophical texts contains it, and there is no Chinese, Pali, or Sanskrit original.
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Did Lao Tzu say this? No.
“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”
This saying does not appear in the Pali Canon, the Daodejing, the Analects, or any other classical Asian source. Its earliest verifiable appearances are in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Theosophical literature, particularly the writings of Madame Blavatsky's circle. Subsequent New Age writers attached it to various Asian sages, but no pre-modern source has been traced.
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Did Lao Tzu say this? No.
“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 quote's 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 .
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Did Lao Tzu say this? No.
“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.
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Did Lao Tzu say this? No.
“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
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Did Lao Tzu say this? No.
“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
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Did Lao Tzu say this? No.
“When the center does not hold, the circle falls apart.”
This is a paraphrase of lines in " The Second Coming " by William Butler Yeats .
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Did Lao Tzu say this? No.
“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。
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Did Lao Tzu say this? No.
“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 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 , a positive thinking book published in 2013.
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Did Lao Tzu say this? No.
“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)
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Did Lao Tzu say this? No.
“"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.