Quotation
Last reviewed:
“A journey of a thousand li begins beneath your feet.”
Laozi · Daoism · Ancient · received text c. 4th–3rd century BCE
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is that a great undertaking starts from the small place actually under your feet. A competing reading, fair to the rest of chapter 64, says the sharper warning is that people fail near completion, so the end needs the same care as the start, and beginnings are not the moral of the chapter alone. The line is in the received text, and 'a thousand miles' is the usual English for a thousand li. Authorship by one sage named Laozi is the uncertain part, not the presence of the sentence.
Did Laozi really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. A genuine line from the text, given in English translation. Wording differs between translators.
Where it comes from
Dao De Jing, chapter 64
Approximate date: received text c. 4th–3rd century BCE.
How to use it
Name the step that is actually under your feet: the email, the page, the apology, the first box in a house move. Do that, rather than rehearsing the thousand li in a notebook. Then keep the same care when the job is nearly done and you are tempted to rush the last corner.
A mindset reading
Beginnings are not more noble than maintenance. The habit is to treat the late stage as the place where haste usually arrives, not as a victory lap that no longer needs attention. Care at the end is the chapter's other warning, and it is the one people drop.
Understand the philosophy
Chapter 64 favours dealing with things while they are still small and not yet hardened. The journey line is one piece of a political caution against force and rush. Li is a unit of distance, a Chinese mile, not a mood. The chapter answers rulers who act too late and too hard, not only individuals who struggle to start.
- change
- self
FAQ
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is that a great undertaking starts from the small place actually under your feet. A competing reading, fair to the rest of chapter 64, says the sharper warning is that people fail near completion, so the end needs the same care as the start, and beginnings are not the moral of the chapter alone. The line is in the received text, and 'a thousand miles' is the usual English for a thousand li. Authorship by one sage named Laozi is the uncertain part, not the presence of the sentence.
Did Laozi really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. A genuine line from the text, given in English translation. Wording differs between translators.
Which work is it in?
Dao De Jing, chapter 64 Approximate date: received text c. 4th–3rd century BCE.