Top 60 Taoism Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires.”

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Life Lessons Quotes, Philosophy Quotes, Virtue Quotes

2. “Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.”

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Life Quotes, Values Quotes, Life Philosophy Quotes, Philosophical Quotes

3. “The way to do is to be.”

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Enlightenment Quotes, Being Yourself Quotes

4. “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

Also featured in: Life Philosophy Quotes, Philosophical Quotes, Spirituality Quotes, Intelligent Quotes

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

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Philosophical Quotes, Wise Quotes, Peace Quotes, Path Quotes

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

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Enlightenment Quotes, Spirituality Quotes, Peace Quotes, Philosophy Quotes

7. “Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”

— Laozi

Also featured in: Reflection Quotes, Wisdom Quotes, Philosophical Quotes, Self Control Quotes

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

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Meditation Quotes

9. “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

Also featured in: Grace Quotes, Wise Quotes, Philosophy Quotes, Virtue Quotes

10. “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

Also featured in: Enlightenment Quotes, Philosophical Quotes, Intelligent Quotes

11. “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

Also featured in: Moving On Quotes, Humility Quotes

12. “A journey of 1000 miles begins with one step.”

— Laozi

Also featured in: Meaning Quotes, Moving On Quotes, Intelligent Quotes, Progress Quotes

13. “Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”

— Laozi

Also featured in: Preparation Quotes, Path Quotes

14. “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”

— Laozi

Also featured in: Acceptance Quotes, Letting Go Quotes, Quotes About Reality

15. “Do not struggle. Go with the flow of things, and you will find yourself at one with the mysterious unity of the Universe.”

— Zhuangzi

Also featured in: Acceptance Quotes, Universe Quotes, Harmony Quotes, Flow Quotes

16. “Once I dreamed I was a butterfly, and now I no longer know whether I am Chuang Tzu, who dreamed I was a butterfly, or whether I am a butterfly dreaming that I am Chuang Tzu.”

— Zhuangzi

Also featured in: Crazy Quotes, Quotes About Reality, Doubt Quotes

17. “Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt. Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench. Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.”

— Laozi

18. “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Wisdom Quotes, Philosophical Quotes, Quality Quotes, Philosophy Quotes

19. “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Inspirational Quotes, Interesting Quotes, Life Philosophy Quotes, Philosophical Quotes

20. “Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?”

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Patience Quotes, Meaningful Quotes, Life Lessons Quotes, Wisdom Quotes

21. “Stop thinking, and end your problems.”

— Lao Tzu

22. “Stop leaving and you will arrive. Stop searching and you will see. Stop running away and you will be found.”

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Emotional Quotes, Life Philosophy Quotes, Philosophical Quotes, Spirituality Quotes

23. “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Leadership Quotes, Wisdom Quotes, Philosophy Quotes

24. “Great acts are made up of small deeds.”

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Wise Quotes, Encouraging Quotes

25. “When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everyone will respect you.”

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Inspirational Quotes, Personality Quotes, Life Philosophy Quotes, Mind Quotes

26. “Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.”

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Happiness Quotes, Acceptance Quotes, Meaningful Quotes, Perspective Quotes

27. “Those who flow as life flows know they need no other force.”

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Change Quotes, Enlightenment Quotes, Life Philosophy Quotes, Philosophy Quotes

28. “Accomplish but do not boast, accomplish without show, accomplish without arrogance, accomplish without grabbing, accomplish without forcing.”

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Goal Quotes, Meaning Quotes, Mind Quotes, Quotes About Work

29. “Act without expectation.”

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Action Quotes, Values Quotes, Life Philosophy Quotes, Philosophy Quotes

30. “The reason why the universe is eternal is that it does not live for itself; it gives life to others as it transforms.”

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Different Quotes

31. “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

Also featured in: Meaningful Quotes, Wisdom Quotes, Intelligent Quotes, Meaning of Life Quotes

32. “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

Also featured in: Identity Quotes

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

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Spring Quotes

34. “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

Also featured in: Enlightenment Quotes

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

— Lao Tzu

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

— Lao Tzu

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

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Morality Quotes, Truth Quotes, Virtue Quotes

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

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Opposites Quotes

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

— Lao Tzu

40. “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

Also featured in: Integrity Quotes, Morality Quotes

41. “Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.”

— Laozi

42. “Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free.”

— Zhuangzi

Also featured in: Freedom Quotes, Letting Go Quotes, Flow Quotes

43. “A frog in a well cannot conceive of the ocean.”

— Zhuangzi

Also featured in: Quotes About Ocean

44. “The Tao of the sage is work without effort.”

— Laozi

Also featured in: Effort Quotes

45. “Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner.”

— Laozi

46. “Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.”

— Laozi

47. “Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.”

— Laozi

48. “Empty your mind of all thoughts.”

— Laozi

49. “If you wish to be out front, then act as if you were behind.”

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Persistence Quotes, Wisdom Quotes

50. “Silence is a source of great strength.”

— Lao Tzu

Also featured in: Silence Quotes