Top 500 Laozi Quotes (2026 Update)
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251. “The wise man doesn’t compete; therefore nobody can compete with him.”

— Laozi

252. “Yet mystery and reality emerge from the same source.”

— Laozi

253. “Every human being’s essential nature is perfect and faultless, but after years of immersion in the world we easily forget our roots and take on a counterfeit nature.”

— Laozi

254. “Give up learning, and put an end to your troubles.”

— Laozi

255. “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.”

— Laozi

256. “The good leader carries water for his people.”

— Laozi

257. “Let muddy water stand and it will become clear.”

— Laozi

258. “If good happens, good; if bad happens, good.”

— Laozi

259. “Kindness in thought leads to wisdom. Kindness in speech leads to eloquence. Kindness in action leads to love.”

— Laozi

260. “I find good people good And I find bad people good If I am good enough.”

— Laozi

261. “A sound man is good at salvage, at seeing nothing is lost.”

— Laozi

262. “Stop thinking, and end your problems. What difference between yes and no? What difference between success and failure? Must you value what others value, avoid what others avoid? How ridiculous!”

— Laozi

263. “Keep your mouth shut, and close up the doors of sight and sound, and as long as you live you will have no vexation. But open your mouth, or become inquisitive, and you will be in trouble all your life long.”

— Laozi

264. “Whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. What is soft is strong.”

— Laozi

265. “If you scramble about in search of inner peace, you will lose your inner peace.”

— Laozi

266. “Conduct your triumph as a funeral.”

— Laozi

267. “Nothing on earth is so weak and yielding as water, but for breaking down the firm and strong it has no equal.”

— Laozi

268. “Good walking leaves no track behind it.”

— Laozi

269. “Without law or compulsion, men would dwell in harmony.”

— Laozi

270. “Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline; simulated fear postulates courage; simulated weakness postulates strength.”

— Laozi

271. “When you have accomplished your goal simply walk away. This is the path way to Heaven.”

— Laozi

272. “Few things under heaven bring more benefit than the lessons learned from silence and the actions taken without striving.”

— Laozi

273. “Of all that is good, sublimity is supreme. Succeeding is the coming together of all that is beautiful. Furtherance is the agreement of all that is just. Perseverance is the foundation of all actions.”

— Laozi

274. “Because clarity and enlightenment are within your own nature, they are regained without moving an inch.”

— Laozi

275. “Not all spiritual paths lead to the harmonious Oneness. Indeed, most are detours and distractions, nothing more.”

— Laozi

276. “The Way is empty, yet inexhaustible, like an abyss!”

— Laozi

277. “Don’t impose your will through manipulation of aggressive emotions and actions.”

— Laozi

278. “Make the small big and the few many.”

— Laozi

279. “Abandon knowledge and your worries are over.”

— Laozi

280. “First, we must do our own personal work, then we tend the necessary work of our family, then our community, then the world.”

— Laozi

281. “When you accurately perceive the fluidity of things, you can also begin to perceive the constancy behind them: the creative, transformative, boundless, immutable Tao.”

— Laozi

282. “He who controls the past controls the future.”

— Laozi

283. “The Way is hidden and nameless. Still only the Way nourishes and completes.”

— Laozi

284. “Without desire there is stillness, and the world settles by itself.”

— Laozi

285. “Those who stay where they are will endure.”

— Laozi

286. “That the soft overcomes the hard, and the yielding overcomes the resistant, is a fact known by all, but practiced by few.”

— Laozi

287. “Practice non-action. Work without doing.”

— Laozi

288. “The eye with which you see God is the same eye with which God sees you; one in seeing; one in knowing; one in loving.”

— Laozi

289. “Those who boast are not respected.”

— Laozi

290. “Lessen selfishness and restrain desires.”

— Laozi

291. “Racing and hunting excite man’s heart to madness.”

— Laozi

292. “If you are at peace, you are living in the present.”

— Laozi

293. “All things in the world are born out of being. Being is born out of non-being.”

— Laozi

294. “The highest virtue is not virtuous. Therefore it has virtue. The lowest virtue holds on to virtue. Therefore it has no virtue.”

— Laozi

295. “If you fail to honor your people, They will fail to honor you; It is said of a good leader that When the work is done, the aim fulfilled, The people will say, “We did this ourselves.””

— Laozi

296. “What is firmly rooted cannot be pulled out.”

— Laozi

297. “All things carry yin and embrace yang. They reach harmony by blending with the vital breath.”

— Laozi

298. “If you see what is small as it sees itself, and accept what is weak for what strength it has, and use what is dim for the light it gives then all will go well. This is called Acting Naturally.”

— Laozi

299. “Do not attempt to conquer the world with force, for force only causes resistance.”

— Laozi

300. “To know one’s ignorance is the best part of knowledge.”

— Laozi