Top 90 Lao Tzu Quotes (2024 Update)
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51. “He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.”

— Lao Tzu

52. “Loss is not as bad as wanting more.”

— Lao Tzu

53. “If a person seems wicked, do not cast him away. Awaken him with your words, elevate him with your deeds, repay his injury with your kindness. Do not cast him away; cast away his wickedness.”

— Lao Tzu

54. “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.”

— Lao Tzu

55. “There is a time to live and a time to die but never to reject the moment.”

— Lao Tzu

56. “In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don’t try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.”

— Lao Tzu

57. “To know that you do not know is the best. To think you know when you do not is a disease. Recognizing this disease as a disease is to be free of it.”

— Lao Tzu

58. “Every step is on the path.”

— Lao Tzu

59. “Close your mouth, block off your senses, blunt your sharpness, untie your knots, soften your glare, settle your dust. This is the primal identity.”

— Lao Tzu

60. “When there is no desire, all things are at peace.”

— Lao Tzu

61. “Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.”

— Lao Tzu

62. “The further one goes, the less one knows.”

— Lao Tzu

63. “If you want to lead them you must place yourself behind them.”

— Lao Tzu

64. “Hope and fear are both phantoms that arise from thinking of the self. When we don’t see the self as self, what do we have to fear?”

— Lao Tzu

65. “Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.”

— Lao Tzu

66. “Become totally empty. Quiet the restlessness of the mind. Only then will you witness everything unfolding from emptiness.”

— Lao Tzu

67. “So the unwanting soul sees what’s hidden, and the ever-wanting soul sees only what it wants.”

— Lao Tzu

68. “Take care with the end as you do with the beginning.”

— Lao Tzu

69. “Just remain in the center; watching. And then forget that you are there.”

— Lao Tzu

70. “Because of a great love, one is courageous.”

— Lao Tzu

71. “One who is too insistent on his own views finds few to agree with him.”

— Lao Tzu

72. “To understand the limitation of things, desire them.”

— Lao Tzu

73. “Some lose yet gain, others gain and yet lose.”

— Lao Tzu

74. “Colors blind the eye Sounds deafen the ear. Flavors numb the taste. Thoughts weaken the mind. Desires wither the heart.”

— Lao Tzu

75. “The master observes the world but trusts his inner vision. He allows things to come and go. He prefers what is within to what is without.”

— Lao Tzu

76. “To be worn out is to be renewed.”

— Lao Tzu

77. “The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself.”

— Lao Tzu

78. “Love is of all the passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart, and the senses.”

— Lao Tzu

79. “She does not show herself, and therefore is apparent. She does not affirm herself, and therefore is acknowledged. She does not boast and therefore has merit. She does not strive and therefore is successful. It is exactly because she does not contend, that nobody can contend with her.”

— Lao Tzu

80. “True words are not fancy. Fancy words are not true. The good do not debate. Debaters are not good.”

— Lao Tzu

81. “Knowing others is wisdom; Knowing the self is enlightenment. Mastering others requires force; Mastering the self requires strength; He who knows he has enough is rich. Perseverance is a sign of will power.”

— Lao Tzu

82. “To realize that you do not understand is a virtue; not to realize that you do not understand is a defect.”

— Lao Tzu

83. “Countless words count less than the silent balance between yin and yang.”

— Lao Tzu

84. “Not-knowing is true knowledge. Presuming to know is a disease. First realize that you are sick; then you can move toward health.”

— Lao Tzu

85. “To bear and not to own; to act and not lay claim; to do the work and let it go: for just letting it go is what makes it stay.”

— Lao Tzu

86. “A good traveler leaves no tracks. Good speech lacks fault-finding.”

— Lao Tzu

87. “Do you imagine the universe is agitated? Go into the desert at night and look at the stars. This practice should answer the question.”

— Lao Tzu

88. “The difficult problems in life always start off being simple. Great affairs always start off being small.”

— Lao Tzu

89. “When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad.”

— Lao Tzu

90. “When goodness is lost there is morality.”

— Lao Tzu

91. “The person of superior integrity does not insist upon his integrity. For this reason, he has integrity. The person of inferior integrity never loses sight of his integrity; For this reason, he lacks integrity.”

— Lao Tzu

92. “When pure sincerity forms within, it is outwardly realized in other people’s hearts.”

— Lao Tzu

93. “If you are untrustworthy, people will not trust you.”

— Lao Tzu

94. “When the people of the world all know beauty as beauty, there arises the recognition of ugliness. When they all know the good as good, there arises the recognition of evil.”

— Lao Tzu

95. “The Master does nothing; yet he leaves nothing undone.”

— Lao Tzu

96. “Self is realized through selflessness.”

— Lao Tzu

97. “I’m sorry. I know you loved her. It was hard not to.”

— Lao Tzu