Top 500 Laozi Quotes (2025 Update)
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401. “My teachings are easy to understand and easy to put into practice. Yet your intellect will never grasp them, and if you try to practice them, you’ll fail. My teachings are older than the world. How can you grasp their meaning? If you want to know me, look inside your heart.”

— Laozi

402. “A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. A good artist lets his intuition lead him wherever it wants. A good scientist has freed himself of concepts and keeps his mind open to what is.”

— Laozi

403. “Be humble and you will remain entire. The sages do not display themselves, therefore they shine. They do not approve themselves, therefore they are noted. They do not praise themselves, therefore they have merit. They do not glory in themselves, therefore they excel.”

— Laozi

404. “Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.”

— Laozi

405. “Those who are quiet value the words. When their task is completed, people will say: We did it ourselves.”

— Laozi

406. “Things exalted then decay. This is going against the Way. What goes against the Way meets an early end.”

— Laozi

407. “I do not concern myself with gods and spirits either good or evil nor do I serve any.”

— Laozi

408. “Seek not happiness too greedily and be not fearful of happiness.”

— Laozi

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

— Laozi

410. “The sage desires no desire, does not value rare treasures, learns without learning, recovers what people have left behind.”

— Laozi

411. “A whale out of water is over-run by ants.”

— Laozi

412. “Good Government is not intrusive the people are hardly aware of it; the next best is felt yet loved; then comes that which is known and feared; the worst government is hated.”

— Laozi

413. “Who can wait in stillness while the mud settles?”

— Laozi

414. “The hard and stiff are death’s companions. The soft and weak are life’s companions.”

— Laozi

415. “We go from birth to death. Three out of ten follow life. Three out of ten follow death. People who rush from birth to death are also three out of ten. Why is that so? Because they want to make too much of life.”

— Laozi

416. “Heaven’s Way gives no favors. It always remains with good people.”

— Laozi

417. “Heavy is the root of light.”

— Laozi

418. “Warriors say: I dare not be like the host, but would rather be like the guest. I dare not advance an inch, but would rather retreat a foot.”

— Laozi

419. “Return animosity with virtue.”

— Laozi

420. “Filling all the way to the brim is not as good as halting in time.”

— Laozi

421. “Those who are one with deprivation are deprived of deprivation.”

— Laozi

422. “He who talks more is sooner exhausted.”

— Laozi

423. “The forceful and violent will not die from natural causes.”

— Laozi

424. “Moderation means prevention. Prevention means achieving much virtue.”

— Laozi

425. “Can you gather your vital breath and yet be tender like a newborn baby?”

— Laozi

426. “What is well rooted cannot be pulled up. What is firmly grasped will not slip loose. It will be honoured from generation to generation.”

— Laozi

427. “To manage your mind, know that there is nothing, and then relinquish all attachment to nothingness.”

— Laozi

428. “Fail to honor people, they fail to honor you.”

— Laozi

429. “Those who praise victory relish manslaughter. Those who relish manslaughter cannot reach their goals in the world.”

— Laozi

430. “The greatest teacher has nothing to say. He simply gives himself in service, and never worries.”

— Laozi

431. “The one who rules like the mother lasts long.”

— Laozi

432. “The sage seeks freedom from desire. He does not collect precious things. He learns not to hold on to ideas. He brings men back to what they have lost.”

— Laozi

433. “Be merciful, moderate, and modest.”

— Laozi

434. “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.”

— Laozi

435. “There is no greater mistake than to make light of an enemy By making light of an enemy many a kingdom has been lost.”

— Laozi

436. “True words seem false.”

— Laozi

437. “Keeping plenty of gold and jade in the palace makes no one able to defend it.”

— Laozi

438. “Thus it is that “Some things are increased by being diminished, others are diminished by being increased.” What others have taught, I also teach; verily, I will make it the root of my teaching.”

— Laozi

439. “The best form of leadership is to be conscious of the leadership potential with the followers and to let them unleash this potential in a spontaneous way. When a great leader accomplishes this task with effortless ease, the followers say, “We did it ourselves.””

— Laozi

440. “Observe how endings become beginnings.”

— Laozi

441. “By the accident of fortune a man may rule the world for a time, but by virtue of love and kindness he may rule the world forever.”

— Laozi

442. “When the Way is lost there is virtue. When virtue is lost there is benevolence. When benevolence is lost there is righteousness. When righteousness is lost there are rituals.”

— Laozi

443. “Do not strive for the shine of jade, but clatter like stone.”

— Laozi

444. “Highest good is like water. Because water excels in benefiting the myriad creatures without contending with them and settles where none would like to be, it comes closest to the way.”

— Laozi

445. “It is better not to make merit a matter of reward Lest people conspire and contend.”

— Laozi

446. “Better stop short than fill to the brim. Oversharpen the blade, and the edge will soon blunt. Amass a store of gold and jade, and no one can protect it.”

— Laozi

447. “If there is to be peace in the home, There must be peace in the heart.”

— Laozi

448. “Only fools seek power, and the greatest fools seek it through force.”

— Laozi

449. “Surrender your self-interest. Love others as much as you love yourself. Then you can be entrusted with all things under heaven.”

— Laozi

450. “When family ties are disturbed, devoted children arise.”

— Laozi