Top 500 Laozi Quotes (2025 Update)
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351. “If you never assume importance, you never lose it.”

— Laozi

352. “The longer you travel, the less you know.”

— Laozi

353. “Heaven and earth are ruthless, and treat the various creatures as straw dogs; the sage is ruthless, and treats others as straw dogs.”

— Laozi

354. “Marriage is three parts love and seven parts forgiveness of sins.”

— Laozi

355. “If you close your mind in judgements and traffic with desires, your heart will be troubled. If you keep your mind from judging and aren’t led by the senses, your heart will find peace.”

— Laozi

356. “Justice has long arm.”

— Laozi

357. “The reality of the building does not consist in the roof and walls, but in the space within to be lived in.”

— Laozi

358. “The weak overcomes the strong. The soft overcomes the hard. Everybody in the world knows this, still nobody makes use of it.”

— Laozi

359. “In this world, there is nothing softer or thinner than water. But to compel the hard and unyielding, it has no equal. That the weak overcomes the strong, that the hard gives way to the gentle – this everyone knows. Yet no one asks accordingly.”

— Laozi

360. “When they lose their sense of awe, people turn to religion. When they no longer trust themselves, they begin to depend upon authority. Therefore the Master steps back so that people won’t be confused. He teaches without a teaching, so that people will have nothing to learn.”

— Laozi

361. “Face the simple fact before it comes involved. Solve the small problem before it becomes big.”

— Laozi

362. “Taking things lightly must lead to big difficulties.”

— Laozi

363. “Stretch the bow to the very full, and you will wish you had stopped in time.”

— Laozi

364. “Deal with difficult tasks while they are easy. Act on large issues while they are small.”

— Laozi

365. “The more laws that are written, the more criminals are produced.”

— Laozi

366. “To realize that our knowledge is ignorance, This is a noble insight. To regard our ignorance as knowledge, This is mental sickness. Only when we are sick of the sickness Shall we cease to be sick. The Sage is not sick, being sick of sickness; This is the secret of health.”

— Laozi

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

— Laozi

368. “We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it liveable.”

— Laozi

369. “When virtue is lost, benevolence appears, when benevolence is lost right conduct appears, when right conduct is lost, expedience appears. Expediency is the mere shadow of right and truth; it is the beginning of disorder.”

— Laozi

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

— Laozi

371. “The True Person governs by emptying the heart of desire and filling the belly with food, weakening ambitions and strengthening bones.”

— Laozi

372. “Misery is what happiness rests upon. Happiness is what misery lurks beneath.”

— Laozi

373. “My words are very easy to understand and very easy to practice. Still, no one in the world can understand or practice them.”

— Laozi

374. “What is a good man? A teacher of a bad man. What is a bad man? A good man’s charge?”

— Laozi

375. “Conquering others requires force. Conquering oneself requires strength.”

— Laozi

376. “The sage wears coarse clothes, concealing jade.”

— Laozi

377. “Understanding others is knowledge, Understanding oneself is enlightenment; Conquering others is power, Conquering oneself is strength.”

— Laozi

378. “Man’s enemies are not demons, but human beings like himself.”

— Laozi

379. “The Way begets one; one begets two; two begets three; three begets the myriad creatures.”

— Laozi

380. “So sometimes things are ahead and sometimes they are behind; Sometimes breathing is hard, sometimes it comes easily; Sometimes there is strength and sometimes weakness; Sometimes one is up and sometimes down. Therefore the sage avoids extremes, excesses, and complacency.”

— Laozi

381. “He who tip-toes cannot stand; he who strides cannot walk.”

— Laozi

382. “Clay is used to make vases, but it is the emptiness they contain that makes them useful.”

— Laozi

383. “It’s hard to keep your balance standing tip-toe.”

— Laozi

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

— Laozi

385. “Do not fear the aging of the body for it is the body’s way of seeking the root.”

— Laozi

386. “The world is a sacred vessel that cannot be changed. He who changes it will destroy it. He who seizes it will lose it.”

— Laozi

387. “Rule a kingdom as though you were cooking a small fish – don’t overdo it.”

— Laozi

388. “I let go of all desire for the common good, and the good becomes as common as the grass.”

— Laozi

389. “The past has no power to stop you from being present now. Only your grievance about the past can do that. What is grievance? The baggage of old thought and emotion.”

— Laozi

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

— Laozi

391. “The sage is sharp but does not cut, pointed but does not pierce, forthright but does not offend, bright but does not dazzle.”

— Laozi

392. “A tree as wide as a man’s embrace grows from a tiny shoot.”

— Laozi

393. “Good words shall gain you honor in the marketplace, but good deeds shall gain you friends among men.”

— Laozi

394. “The inner is the foundation of the outer. The still is master of the restless. The Sage travels all day yet never leaves his inner treasure.”

— Laozi

395. “It is better to do one’s own duty, however defective it may be, than to follow the duty of another, however well one may perform it. He who does his duty as his own nature reveals it, never sins.”

— Laozi

396. “Throw away profit and greed, and there won’t be any thieves.”

— Laozi

397. “I have three treasures which I hold and keep. The first is mercy; the second is economy. The third is daring not to be ahead of others. From mercy comes courage; from economy comes generosity; From humility comes leadership.”

— Laozi

398. “Knowing the future is the flower of the Way, and the beginning of folly.”

— Laozi

399. “For one gains by losing And loses by gaining.”

— Laozi

400. “Know honor, Yet keep humility. Be the valley of the universe! Being the valley of the universe, Ever true and resourceful, Return to the state of the uncarved block.”

— Laozi