He is best known as the author of the Tao-Te-Ching, the work which exemplifies his thought.
There has been some speculation as to whether an individual by that name ever existed or whether Lao-Tzu is an amalgam of many different philosophers.
The historian Durant writes, “Lao-Tze, greatest of the pre-Confucian philosophers, was wiser than Teng Shih; he knew the wisdom of silence, and lived, we may be sure, to a ripe old age – though we are not sure that he lived at all”.
If he did exist, he is thought to have lived in the 6th century BCE.
Regardless, here are quotes attributed to Lao Tzu:
