Are you searching for the most inspiring words from Lao Tzu?
Look no further! This article brings together his best quotes organized into seven categories so you can easily find the wisdom you need.
Each section features a top pick followed by a collection of insightful sayings.
Quotes on Simplicity
Best Pick: I have just three things to teach: simplicity patience compassion These three are your greatest treasures
- Nature does not hurry yet everything is accomplished
- Manifest plainness embrace simplicity reduce selfishness have few desires
- The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
- When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete everybody will respect you
- Great acts are made up of small deeds
- A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving
- The wise man is one who knows what he does not know
- To attain knowledge add things every day To attain wisdom remove things every day
- He who is contented is rich
- The further one goes the less one knows
- Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river
- By letting go it all gets done The world is won by those who let it go
- Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing
Quotes on Leadership
Best Pick: To lead people walk behind them
- A leader is best when people barely know he exists
- He who does not trust enough will not be trusted
- When the best leader’s work is done the people say We did it ourselves
- Knowing others is intelligence knowing yourself is true wisdom
- Silence is a source of great strength
- When you accept yourself the whole world accepts you
- He who controls others may be powerful but he who has mastered himself is mightier still
- A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step
- If you do not change direction you may end up where you are heading
- Time is a created thing To say I don’t have time is like saying I don’t want to
- At the center of your being you have the answer you know who you are and you know what you want
- The power of intuitive understanding will protect you from harm until the end of your days
- Mastering others is strength mastering yourself is true power
Quotes on Peace
Best Pick: If you want to awaken all of humanity then awaken all of yourself
- He who conquers others is strong he who conquers himself is mighty
- When you realize nothing is lacking the whole world belongs to you
- Give evil nothing to oppose and it will disappear by itself
- The soft overcomes the hard the weak overcomes the strong
- When you let go of what you are you become what you might be
- Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt
- Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment
- If you want peace stop fighting If you want light stop throwing shade
- When there is no desire all things are at peace
- Knowing others is wisdom knowing yourself is enlightenment
- The best fighter is never angry
- Be content with what you have rejoice in the way things are
Quotes on Happiness
Best Pick: If you realize that you have enough you are truly rich
- He who is content is rich
- Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing
- New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings
- The key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness
- Be happy with what you have and you will have everything you need
- Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes
- When you are at peace with yourself you find happiness effortlessly
- Stop thinking and end your problems
- Success is as dangerous as failure Hope is as hollow as fear
- Health is the greatest possession Contentment is the greatest treasure
- The wise man does not lay up treasure The more he gives to others the more he has for his own
- Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy
- Find joy in the ordinary
Quotes on Love
Best Pick: Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage
- Love is of all passions the strongest for it attacks simultaneously the head the heart and the senses
- When you love someone deeply it brings courage to your soul
- Kindness in words creates confidence Kindness in thinking creates profoundness Kindness in giving creates love
- Love is not about possession it’s about appreciation
- The heart that gives gathers
- Because of a great love one is courageous
- He who loves does not dispute He who disputes does not love
- Love is a decision not just an emotion
- A loving heart is the truest wisdom
- The more you give away the more is given to you
- Love does not dominate it cultivates
- Love is the greatest refreshment in life
Quotes on Wisdom
Best Pick: Knowing others is intelligence knowing yourself is true wisdom
- The wise man does not display his treasures
- Be like water adapting to whatever shape it finds
- Act without expectation
- A scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar
- To the mind that is still the whole universe surrenders
- When you let go of what you are you become what you might be
- He who knows he has enough is rich
- Do your work then step back The only path to serenity
- The highest virtue is to act without a sense of self
- Wise men don’t need to prove their point
- The more you know the less you understand
- The best way to live is to be like water
Quotes on Change
Best Pick: Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes Don’t resist them
- If you do not change direction you may end up where you are heading
- The wise adapt themselves to circumstances
- When I let go of what I am I become what I might be
- Life is a balance of holding on and letting go
- Trying to control the future is like trying to take the master carpenter’s place
- Act without striving and everything will fall into place
- The world belongs to those who let go
- New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings
- The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it move with it and join the dance
- A tree that cannot bend will break
- A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving
- Those who flow as life flows know they need no other force
Conclusion
Lao Tzu’s wisdom teaches us about simplicity leadership peace happiness love wisdom and change His words encourage us to live in harmony with life to embrace change and to find peace within ourselves
These timeless quotes can inspire and guide anyone seeking a better understanding of life
