Tao Te Ching
by Lao Tzu, translated by Stephen Mitchell
Eighty-one short chapters on the Way: acting without forcing, leading by not dominating, the usefulness of emptiness, knowing when to stop. Mitchell's version is free and modern, more poem than translation, which scholars criticize and general readers love. For a closer rendering choose Ursula Le Guin's or D.C. Lau's; for a first reading, this one.
Read it if…
you want an ancient counterweight to striving: effortless action, humility, restraint.
Skip it if…
you want precise translation; this is an interpretation.
Three things you will actually use
- Do by not forcing; the soft overcomes the hard.
- Know when enough is enough.
- Lead so that people say, we did it ourselves.
Do this first
Read one chapter each morning for eighty-one days.
Our verdict
Ancient, brief and endlessly rereadable.
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