Lao-Tse is an important figure in China, whose historical veracity is questioned even today. It is believed that he was the author of the book Tao Te Ching, the main work by which Taoism (an Asian religion and philosophy) is governed.

It is believed that he may have been a contemporary of Confucius, but the lack of evidence about the life of Lao-Tse, makes these sources mere speculation. Regardless of whether or not he existed as a real person, the literary works of Lao-Tse or that speak of him are well known and relevant in Chinese culture.

Great Sentences and Reflections by Lao-Tse

If you want to know more about this mysterious figure, below you can enjoy 90 great phrases of Lao-Tse , which can help us to understand a little more the philosophy that this thinker preached.

  • You may be interested in: “The 90 best sentences of Sun Tzu (The Art of War)”

1. Those who seek to dominate the world and improve it are on the road to failure. The world is so sacred and vast that it cannot be mastered. He who dominates it makes it worse, he who has it loses it.

We must be aware of our limitations, otherwise our pride will take its toll.

2. He who is not happy with little, will not be happy with much.

Happiness is not found in material goods, but in our own feelings.

3. He who gains a victory over another man is strong; but he who gains a victory over himself is powerful.

Our greatest rival in life will always be ourselves, we are our greatest detractor.

4. Because of a great love, one is brave.

Love can lead us to great deeds, it has always been a very powerful force in life.

5. He who knows, does not speak; he who speaks, does not know.

He who is wise will never speak in vain; on the contrary, the ignorant will speak without knowledge.

6. A huge tree grows from a tender bud. A journey of a thousand steps begins in a single step.

Everything in life begins with a small step, nothing is achieved overnight.

7. Gratitude is the memory of the heart.

When we thank someone for something, we show our love for them.

8. To realize that you do not understand is a virtue; not to realize that you do not understand is a defect.

Being aware of our own limitations will lead us to be able to overcome them.

9. To drive people, walk behind them.

We must know how to adopt a position of submission to get what we want from someone, respect will lead us to achieve it.

10. Good words can be negotiated, but to become great, good deeds are required.

Good works are always the ones that will make this world a better place. Words are not enough.

11. Stop thinking and finish your problems.

Most of the time we think too much about the problems, we should not give them so much importance.

12. When on earth everyone recognizes beauty as beauty, then ugliness is constituted.

Beauty is a subjective term, which often ends up dictating society, but we should not let ourselves be carried away by it.

13. Don’t go against what’s right, to get praise from others.

We must not seek the acceptance of society, we must be who we really are.

14. Elegant words are not sincere; sincere words are not elegant.

Many times telling the truth can cause pain to the person who receives this truth, but we must be honest.

15. Observe all the white around you, but remember all the black around you.

In life there will always be problems that we must tackle, without them we would not be able to appreciate the good that life brings us.

16. Only those who know inner peace can give it to others.

To show others what inner peace is, we must be at peace with ourselves.

17. Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; they only create pain. Let reality be reality.

Accepting life as it is presented to us can lead us to a state of full happiness.

18. The evil leader is the one whom the people despise. The good leader is the one whom the people admire.

As leaders we must always seek the satisfaction of our subjects, with it we will reveal ourselves as great leaders.

19. Ten thousand things blossom, and then each one returns to the root from which it came.

Life is just another step on the road to death, everything that once began will eventually come to an end.

20. Knowing that you don’t know is the best thing.

Being aware that we don’t have absolute knowledge makes us better individuals; we must listen to others.

21. True words are not beautiful; false words are beautiful. Good words are not persuasive; words that are not good are persuasive.

Lies can often sound better than truths; we should not get carried away by them.

22. He who promises much rarely keeps his word.

We must not promise, unless we are going to keep our promise, our word represents the person we are in society.

23. That which is well established cannot be moved. That which is held tightly cannot be released. And it will be honored, from generation to generation.

As time goes by, values are implanted in society that will endure over the centuries.

24. The kingdom’s weapons are not shown abroad.

We must not show the cards we have, we must be cautious and not reveal much about ourselves to others, otherwise we may be harmed.

25. Kindness in words creates trust. Kindness in thought creates depth. Kindness in giving creates love.

We must be kind to those around us, so that our personal relationships will improve.

26. Worry about what others think and you will always be their prisoner.

We must not let ourselves be carried away by the image that others may have of us, we must be authentic and faithful to ourselves.

27. You must surrender to your own interest. Love others as much as you love yourself. Then you can trust all things under heaven.

How we take care of ourselves and how we take care of those around us will lead us to great goals or not.

28. People are hungry, this happens because those in authority eat too much in taxes.

Injustice has always been present in the world, we must fight it from our own possibilities.

29. Those who have knowledge do not predict. Those who preach do not have knowledge.

When we are wise enough, we are aware that we cannot anticipate events.

30. Knowledge is a treasure, but practice is the key to it.

To reach any knowledge, it is given by the path of action, either by reading or by practicing any kind of art.

31. Responds intelligently even to unintelligent treatment.

When someone does not treat us with the respect we deserve, we should be smarter than he is and not act the same way.

32. The soft things in life surpass the strong things in the world.

Many times things are not what they seem and something that may seem delicate may be much stronger than we thought.

33. He who knows how to be content with what he has will always be happy.

He who does not need much in life will always be hopelessly happier.

34. When a country is full of conflict, patriots flourish.

It is in extreme situations that the deepest feelings flourish.

35. If you want to take, you must first give; this is the beginning of intelligence.

To get things in life, we must first have done something to get them.

36. Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

The love we feel for a person and receive from them can help us in all aspects of life.

37. The wise man does not accumulate. The more he helps others, the more he benefits himself. The more he gives to others, the more he gets himself.

When we improve the lives of those around us, in an indirect way, we also improve our own.

38. People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.

In an educated people, the leader must be much more astute, which is why many leaders decide not to invest in the education of their citizens.

39. Few things under heaven bring more benefit than lessons learned from silence and actions taken without effort.

Everything we achieve in life, such as knowledge and techniques, will always be of great help to us throughout our lives.

40. Man’s enemies are not demons, but human beings like him.

The human being is the biggest predator on Earth, for all living beings, including the human being himself.

41. Moderation is the best virtue for governing men and serving heaven.

As leaders we must be moderate in our actions, know how to act with proportionality in each situation.

42. Loss is not as bad as wanting more.

When we lose something we didn’t need, we haven’t really lost anything.

43. Do the hard things while they are easy and do the big things while they are small.

We must tackle problems when we have room for manoeuvre, if we let them grow and become more complicated they will definitely be much harder to solve.

44. He who speaks, tires more quickly.

During an exercise, talking doesn’t allow us to control our breathing and that’s why we get more tired.

45. He who insists too much on his views finds few people who agree with him.

We must accept the points of view of others, we must not want to impose our own criteria.

46. The key to growth is the introduction of greater dimensions of consciousness into our consciousness.

To absorb greater knowledge, we must expand our mind and our ideas, we must never stop learning.

47. Be the boss, but never the master.

We can direct someone, but he will never be our property, we all have the same universal rights.

48. In thought, keep it simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be present.

This sentence lists very well the qualities we should all have and how we should act in life.

49. May your body and your vital soul be united in an embrace without separation.

We must be in touch with our spirit, know who we really are and what we want to achieve in life.

50. Life and death are one thread, the same line seen from different sides.

Death is part of life, one more experience we will all go through at one time or another.

51. There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.

Underestimating our opponent will lead us to defeat, we must be cautious and always be prepared for the worst.

52. The good man is the master of the bad, and the bad man is the lesson of the good.

In life we can learn from those people like those we do not want to be, because in this way we will have a clear example of how we should not act.

53. An ornate word is not sincere.

In order to convey things in the most reliable way, we must speak out.

54. Nature does not have a human heart.

The environment is not in people’s interests, we must stand on our own two feet.

55. Success is as dangerous as failure. Hope is as hollow as fear.

We should not anticipate events, being prevented is a great quality.

56. Without moving externally, one can know the whole world: without looking out the window, one can see the way to heaven. The more you move, the less you know.

The knowledge, we acquire many times with introspection, we must know ourselves to know everything else.

57. Perfection is the will to be imperfect.

When we are aware of our imperfections, we accept them and can live with them.

58. You run a great nation the way you would cook a small fish. Don’t overdo it.

Even the most powerful leaders must be cautious and prevented.

59. Seeing things in the seed, that’s genius.

When we value something for the power it can achieve, we can go ahead and take advantage of that power.

60. Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy.

We must be careful and act when there is still time.

61. Fill your bowl to the brim and it will overflow. Continue to sharpen your knife and it will wear out.

We must not rush things by being ambitious, we must know when it is enough of something.

62. A leader is better when people barely know he exists. When their work is done, their goal accomplished, they will say: we did it ourselves.

A leader’s job is well done when he or she makes the difficult easy and everything seems to come naturally.

63. Great indeed is the sublimity of the creative, to which all beings owe their beginning and which fills all heaven.

Creation is a wonderful thing that we can all enjoy, we live on a great planet.

64. Be honest with those who are honest, and also be honest with those who are not honest.

Honesty is something that should always be present in our personality.

65. To know others is wisdom, to know oneself is Enlightenment.

The greatest knowledge we can possess is self-knowledge.

66. Act effortlessly. Work without interfering. Find the taste in what has no taste.

We must value the little things and also make the most of our actions.

67. A scholar who appreciates love only for comfort is not prepared to be a scholar.

Being aware of all the positive things we have in our lives will lead us to reach the goal we are pursuing.

68. Nature does not hurry, yet everything is achieved.

With enough time and dedication everything will be possible.

69. If you practice equity, even if you die you will not perish.

Being equitable with what we give and receive from others is a great quality.

70. He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much.

We must give in order to receive, for in life we always receive the same currency with which we pay.

71. Weapons are not appropriate tools for kind people; kind people use them only when they have no other choice. They value peace and quiet. They do not find glory in victory.

The glory we attain by the power of arms will always stain our hands with blood.

72. He who judges everything easy will find life difficult.

When we take everything for granted, it can give us the feeling that life has no mystery.

73. The true person rules when he empties his heart of desire and fills his belly with food, weakening his ambitions and strengthening his bones.

It is when we think most clearly that we must make the hardest decisions.

74. Health is the greatest possession. Satisfaction is the greatest treasure. Trust is the greatest friend. Not to be is the greatest joy.

We must give thanks for all the gifts that life gives us and we must be more aware of them.

75. If the Great Way perishes, there will be morality and duty. When intelligence and knowledge arise, great lies will flourish.

Society can lead us to meet with people who may envy us, we must not let ourselves be led astray by its tricks.

76. When you are happy to just be yourself and not compare or compete, everyone will respect you.

The more honest we are with ourselves, the better people will be able to appreciate our qualities.

77. Convenience is simply the shadow of goodness and truth; it is the beginning of disorder.

Doing things because they are convenient for us can lead us down a bad path, we must be honest with our actions and thoughts.

78. He who knows how to bind does not use ropes or knots, and yet no one can untie what he has bound.

Those people who know how to manipulate the threads that move society achieve great power within it.

79. We turn clay into a pot, but what we want is its empty interior.

A good moral that indicates that even an empty space holds great value.

80. When virtue is lost, benevolence appears; when benevolence is lost, right conduct appears; when right conduct is lost, convenience appears.

Being honest with the actions we take will never make us regret them.

81. Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks at the same time the head, the heart, and the senses.

Love can totally change our mind and make us change our mind on many issues.

82. The weak and the tender overcome the hard and the strong.

Things may not be what they seem, water for example can pass through any rock.

83. People fail when they are about to succeed. If one is careful to the end, just as when he started, there will be no failure.

We must not give up until we have reached the real end, we must not sell the bear’s skin before we hunt it.

84. Time is a created thing. Saying “I don’t have time” is the same as saying “I don’t want to”.

When we want to do something or be with someone, we will always find enough time to do it.

85. The snow goose doesn’t need a bath to turn white. Likewise, you don’t need to do anything but be yourself.

We must love and value ourselves for the person we are, self-esteem is something fundamental that we must cultivate in us.

86. When I stop being what I am, I become what I could be.

To grow as individuals we must change ourselves, acquire wisdom and put it into practice in our lives.

87. If you don’t change direction, you can end up where you started.

The world is a sphere and if we always walk in the same direction we will turn it around, a good moral of what our life can become.

88. The common man, when he undertakes something, spoils it by being in a hurry to finish it.

Being patient will lead us to achieve our goals, haste is never a good companion.

89. The way to do, is to be.

To realize what we dream of so much, we must become the best version of ourselves.

90. Different in life, men are similar in death.

Death is omnipresent in all living beings. How we live our lives is what sets us apart from each other.