Top 500 Laozi Quotes (2025 Update)
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451. “Heaven’s net is very vast. It is sparsely meshed, yet nothing slips through.”

— Laozi

452. “If the sage wants to stand above people, he must speak to them from below. If he wants to lead people, he must follow them from behind.”

— Laozi

453. “The leader is a teacher who succeeds without taking credit. And, because credit is not taken, credit is received.”

— Laozi

454. “The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.”

— Laozi

455. “I alone am different from the others, because I am nourished by the great mother.”

— Laozi

456. “Rituals are the end of fidelity and honesty, and the beginning of confusion.”

— Laozi

457. “That so few understand me is why I am treasured.”

— Laozi

458. “A terrace nine stories high begins with a pile of earth.”

— Laozi

459. “The perfect square lacks corners.”

— Laozi

460. “A tree that can fill the span of a man’s arms grows from a downy tip; A terrace nine stories high rises from level earth; A journey of a thousand miles starts from beneath one’s feet.”

— Laozi

461. “If lightning is the anger of the gods, then the gods are concerned mostly about trees.”

— Laozi

462. “Fame of self: Which matters more? Self or wealth: Which is more precious? Gain or loss: Which is more painful?”

— Laozi

463. “I alone have the mind of a fool, and am all muddled and vague. The people are so smart and bright. While I am just dull and confused.”

— Laozi

464. “In dwelling, be close to the land. In meditation, go deep in the heart.”

— Laozi

465. “The wise man puts himself last and finds himself first.”

— Laozi

466. “Great talents ripen late; the highest notes are hard to hear.”

— Laozi

467. “Abandon learning and there will be no sorrow.”

— Laozi

468. “Perfect kindness acts without thinking of kindness.”

— Laozi

469. “The cords of passion and desire weave a binding net around you. Worldly confrontation makes you stiff and inflexible. The trap of duality is tenacious. Bound, rigid, and trapped, you cannot experience liberation.”

— Laozi

470. “The well-run group is not a battlefield of egos.”

— Laozi

471. “Without looking through the window, you can see Heaven’s Way.”

— Laozi

472. “When the government is quite unobtrusive, people are indeed pure. When the government is quite prying, people are indeed conniving.”

— Laozi

473. “When the great Tao is forgotten, goodness and piety appear. When the body’s intelligence declines, cleverness and knowledge step forth. When there is no peace in the family, filial piety begins. When the country falls into chaos, patriotism is born.”

— Laozi

474. “A good person is the bad person’s teacher. A bad person is the good person’s task.”

— Laozi

475. “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!”

— Laozi

476. “The softest of stuff in the world, penetrates quickly the hardest, insubstantial, it enters where there is no room...”

— Laozi

477. “A man is born gentle and weak. At death he is hard and stiff.”

— Laozi

478. “Always without desire we must be found, If its deep mystery we would sound; But if desire always within us be, Its outer fringe is all that we shall see.”

— Laozi

479. “Being satisfied with little, you can gain much. Seeking much you will go astray. The wise heeds this precept. If it could be so with all people!”

— Laozi

480. “All things such as grass and trees are soft and supple in life. At their death they are withered and dry.”

— Laozi

481. “The tree which needs two arms to span its girth sprang from the tiniest shoot. Yon tower, nine stories high, rose from a little mound of earth. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

— Laozi

482. “The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world. Through this I know the advantage of taking no action.”

— Laozi

483. “Pounding an edge to sharpness will not make it last.”

— Laozi

484. “The True Person benefits yet expects no reward, does the work and moves on. There is no desire to be considered better than others.”

— Laozi

485. “The more weapons of violence, the more misery to mankind. The triumph of violence ends in a festival of mourning.”

— Laozi

486. “When everyone in the world sees beauty, then ugly exists.”

— Laozi

487. “The tree which fills the arms grew from the tiniest sprout...”

— Laozi

488. “The fish cannot leave the deep waters. The state’s weaponry should not be displayed.”

— Laozi

489. “Greed is costly. Assembled fortunes are lost.”

— Laozi

490. “Once upon a time a man whose ax was missing suspected his neighbor’s son. The boy walked like a thief, looked like a thief and spoke like a thief. But the man found his ax while digging in the valley, and the next time he saw his neighbor’s son, the boy walked, looked and spoke like any other child.”

— Laozi

491. “There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.”

— Laozi

492. “If you practice inaction, nothing will be left undone: For the way to acquire lordship over society is by invariably not interfering.”

— Laozi

493. “He who has achieved this state Is unconcerned with friends and enemies, With good and harm, with honor and disgrace. This therefore is the highest state of man.”

— Laozi

494. “People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.”

— Laozi

495. “A skillful commander is not overbearing. A skillful fighter does not become angry. A skillful conqueror does not compete with people. One who is skillful in using men puts himself below them. This is called the strength to use men. This is called matching Heaven, The highest principle of old.”

— Laozi

496. “Of the second-rate leaders people speak respectfully saying, “He has done this, he has done that.” Of the first-rate leaders, they do not say this. They say, “We have done it all ourselves.””

— Laozi

497. “Can you comprehend everything in the four directions and still do nothing?”

— Laozi

498. “The scholar gains every day; the man of Tao loses every day.”

— Laozi

499. “The more prohibitions there are, the poorer the people will be. The more laws are promulgated, the more thieves and bandits there will be.”

— Laozi

500. “Good leaders reach solutions, and then stop. They do not dare to rely on force.”

— Laozi