Lao Tzu Quotes: 33 Sayings and Which Are Really His

35 Inspiring & Philosophical Quotes By Lao Tzu (Laozi)

Laozi, also written Lao Tzu, is the sage traditionally credited with the Tao Te Ching, the short classic at the heart of Taoist thought. His name is now attached to hundreds of inspirational sayings online, but many of them were written in the last century or two, and some have nothing to do with him. Below are 33 sayings commonly credited to Laozi, grouped by where they really come from: lines found in the Tao Te Ching, free modern renderings of it, and popular quotes he almost certainly never said. Each comes with a short note on what it means.

Who was Laozi?

Tradition places Laozi in the 6th century BCE, in the state of Chu, and makes him an older contemporary of Confucius. The historian Sima Qian, writing around the 1st century BCE, already offered several conflicting versions of his life. In the best-known one, Laozi, whose personal name was said to be Li Er, worked as an archivist at the Zhou court. Disillusioned, he left for the west, and a guard at the frontier gate, Yinxi, asked him to write down his wisdom before he departed. The result, according to the story, was the Tao Te Ching.

Most modern scholars doubt that a single historical Laozi wrote the book. The oldest known fragments, on bamboo slips found at Guodian, date to the late 4th century BCE and contain about a third of the received text. The earliest complete manuscripts, from Mawangdui, date to the early 2nd century BCE. The text seems to have grown over time, and "Laozi" itself is an honorific meaning something like "Old Master".

His influence is enormous all the same. From the Han dynasty onward he was worshipped as a deity in religious Taoism, and the emperors of the Tang dynasty, who shared the surname Li, claimed him as their ancestor. His ideas of simplicity, humility and non-forcing action, or wu wei, still shape Chinese culture and attract readers worldwide.

Sayings that come from the Tao Te Ching

These lines appear in the Tao Te Ching, although the English wording varies from one translator to another. Chapter numbers refer to the standard 81-chapter text.

1. "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
Chapter 64. A more literal rendering says the journey begins beneath one's feet. The point is about starting where you stand and handling large things while they are still small.

2. "Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know."
Chapter 56. A warning that deep understanding resists being packaged into neat statements, and a gentle jab at people who talk most confidently.

3. "Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich."
Chapter 33, in a popular modern rendering. The contrast between outward success and inner mastery is one of the book's recurring themes.

4. "If you understand others you are smart. If you understand yourself you are illuminated. If you overcome others you are powerful. If you overcome yourself you have strength. ..."
Also chapter 33, in a fuller translation that goes on to praise contentment, willpower, steadiness of purpose and a death without loss. Reading it beside number 3 shows how much translators can differ.

5. "The truth is not always beautiful, nor beautiful words the truth."
A loose version of the opening of chapter 81, which contrasts sincere words with elegant ones. Flattery sounds pleasant; honesty often does not.

6. "The best fighter is never angry."
Chapter 68 describes the skilled warrior as one who is not warlike and the good fighter as one who does not lose their temper. Anger clouds judgement.

7. "To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day."
Chapter 48. Learning accumulates, while following the Tao means letting go, step by step, of what is unnecessary.

8. "Manifest plainness, Embrace simplicity, Reduce selfishness, Have few desires."
Chapter 19. One of the book's most direct pieces of practical advice, often summarised by the image of the "uncarved block".

9. "I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. ..."
Chapter 67, the famous "three treasures". The passage goes on to argue that gentleness makes true boldness possible, frugality makes generosity possible, and humility is what qualifies someone to lead. Other translators render the treasures as compassion, moderation and not daring to be first in the world.

10. "Simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world."
The same chapter 67 in Stephen Mitchell's 1988 interpretive version. It is beautiful, but it is Mitchell's reading as much as Laozi's text. You can find it in many editions of the Tao Te Ching.

Free modern renderings of the Tao Te Ching

Many of the most shared "Laozi quotes" come from Stephen Mitchell's popular 1988 version, which reworks the text into contemporary English. They are inspired by real chapters, but their wording is modern.

11. "A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving."
Based on chapter 27, which praises the traveller who leaves no tracks. The idea is openness: moving through life without forcing every outcome.

12. "When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everyone will respect you."
Mitchell's closing lines of chapter 8, the chapter that compares the highest goodness to water, which benefits everything without struggling.

13. "Because one believes in oneself, one doesn't try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn't need others' approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her."
Adapted from Mitchell's chapter 30, with "he" changed to "one". Self-acceptance here is the opposite of arrogance: it removes the need to prove anything.

14. "Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner."
Close to Mitchell's version of chapter 9, which links chasing approval with losing freedom.

15. "Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you."
A Mitchell-style rendering of the book's teaching on contentment, close to chapter 44, which warns that those who know when they have enough avoid disgrace.

16. "Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?"
Mitchell's chapter 15. Muddy water clears when it is left still; so does a troubled mind.

17. "Stop thinking, and end your problems."
Mitchell's opening of chapter 20, which other translators render as giving up learning to end anxiety. It is not an argument against thinking, but against restless, anxious over-analysis.

18. "Act without expectation."
A modern compression of an idea that appears in chapters 2 and 51: the sage acts but does not cling to results or claim credit.

19. "A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live."
A loose paraphrase of chapter 73, where courage in daring leads to death and courage in not daring keeps one alive. The popular wording is much freer than the original.

20. "At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want."
Widely shared as Laozi, but we could not match this wording to a chapter of the Tao Te Ching. Treat it as a modern saying in the Taoist spirit.

Popular quotes Laozi probably never said

The following are often attributed to Laozi but have other sources or no known source at all. Quote researchers such as Gracious Quotes have traced several of them.

21. "Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."
Not in the Tao Te Ching. Its earliest known appearance is Dean Koontz's 1988 novel Lightning.

22. "Time is a created thing. To say 'I don't have time,' is like saying, 'I don't want to.'"
Traced to the Christian writer Elisabeth Elliot's 1982 book Discipline: The Glad Surrender.

23. "Be careful what you water your dreams with..." (the longer passage about worry, weeds and optimism)
From the 2004 self-help book Inspired Wealth by Aileen Miga and Janice Hughes. Its vocabulary of "solutions" and "success" is a clue to its modern origin.

24. "Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes..."
Not found in the Tao Te Ching; origin unknown. It does echo the book's theme of yielding rather than resisting.

25. "When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be."
No match in standard translations; probably a modern paraphrase.

26. "Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love."
Of unknown origin. It circulates mainly in self-help books and online collections.

27. "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."
One of the most shared "Laozi" lines, yet not in translations of the Tao Te Ching. Similar wording appears in print in the 19th century without his name.

28. "The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long."
An old proverb best known today from the 1982 film Blade Runner. There is no known source in Laozi.

29. "If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading."
Usually described as a Chinese proverb; no source in the Tao Te Ching has been found.

30. "Silence is a source of Great Strength."
Unsourced. The Tao Te Ching does value few words (see number 2), but this exact line is modern.

31. "Music in the soul can be heard by the universe."
Unsourced, and quite unlike the plain style of the classic.

32. "Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment."
Unsourced. Chapter 63's advice to repay injury with kindness may be the distant inspiration.

33. "The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself."
Often traced to the Hua Hu Ching, a separate text traditionally linked to Laozi whose popular English versions are modern. It is not part of the Tao Te Ching.

The ideas behind the sayings

Whatever their origin, the best of these lines circle a few core ideas from the Tao Te Ching:

Wu wei, or effortless action. Not laziness, but acting in harmony with circumstances instead of forcing them.
Water as a model. Water is soft and yielding, yet it wears away stone and benefits everything without competing.
Simplicity and contentment. Fewer desires mean fewer anxieties; knowing when you have enough is a form of wealth.
Humility. The sage leads by staying low, like rivers that flow down to the sea.
The limits of words. The famous first line warns that the Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.

Reading Laozi for yourself

The Tao Te Ching is only about 5,000 Chinese characters long, so it can be read in an afternoon and reread for a lifetime. Because classical Chinese is terse and open to interpretation, it helps to compare at least two translations: a careful scholarly one, which stays close to the text, and a freer literary one, which reads more easily. Mitchell's version is lovely, but if a line sounds suspiciously like modern self-help, check it against another translation before quoting it as Laozi.

When you share a saying, a simple label such as "from the Tao Te Ching, chapter 33" or "often attributed to Laozi" keeps the wisdom and the history honest.

Sources: Wikipedia: Laozi; Gracious Quotes: Lao Tzu quotes with sources; Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching: A New English Version (1988).

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