Tao Te Ching

Jack Ma Founder/AlibabaAccording to a Yibada interview with Chen Wei, who wrote Ma’s 2014 authorized biography, the Alibaba founder and executive chairman always carries the Tao Te Ching, the foundational text of Taoist philosophy, religion and ethics composed by Lao Tzu in the sixth century B.C. (Source)

Naval Ravikant CEO & Co-Founder/AngelListIn the philosophy side, I’ve been rereading the Tao Te Ching. (Source)

Tim O'Reilly Founder/O'Reilly MediaThe Way of Life According to Lao Tzu (Tao Te Ching), translated by Witter Bynner. My personal religious philosophy, stressing the rightness of what is, if only we can accept it. Most people who know me have heard me quote from this book. "Seeing as how nothing is outside the vast, wide-meshed net of heaven, who is there to say just how it is cast?" (Source)

Jack Dorsey Co-Founder/TwitterQ: What are the books that had a major influence on you? Or simply the ones you like the most. : Tao te Ching, score takes care of itself, between the world and me, the four agreements, the old man and the sea...I love reading! (Source)

Rick Rubin Always what you need to read at that particular period of time. It’s a magic book, in that way, in that it always fits. (Source)

Michael Puett Daoism is a body of thinking that comes from the text of the Laozi…It is simply a series of extremely paradoxical-sounding statements, very gnomic, very difficult to decipher, and yet extraordinarily powerful once you work through and get a sense of what the underlying philosophy is. (Source)

Joel Gascoigne Tao Te Ching is one of the most famous texts that exists for philosophical Taoism (along with Zhuangzi which I have also included below). This book follows a different format to other philosophical texts and is very easy to read. It is split up into 81 very brief chapters (some just a few words). It's one of the philosophy books which for me had a lot of impact in very few words. Tao Te Ching is one of the most famous texts that exists for philosophical Taoism (along with Zhuangzi which I have also included below). This book follows a different format to other philosophical texts and is very... (Source)

Austin Kleon Every one of these poems reads like a subtweet of the president. Le Guin’s footnotes are great, too: In response to “having a lot of things, a lot of money: / shameless theives. / Surely their way / isn’t the way,” she writes, “So much for capitalism.”) (Source)

Adam Haritan In Stephen Mitchell’s translation of the Tao Te Ching, he writes in verse 74: “If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold onto.” I had never heard such wisdom whenever I first encountered those words, and as soon as I absorbed that verse and put it into practice, my life improved quite significantly. I realized that I was holding onto many things that no longer served me — including relationships, jobs, material possessions, ideas, etc. — and by letting go of these things, or least not feeling the need to be attached to them, I was able to lessen the load... (Source)

Bernard Tan The “Tao Te King” by Lao Tzu probably resonated with me the strongest, but others like the “Art of War” by Sun Tzu, “Bhagavad Gita” or Zen Buddhist scriptures were also real eye-openers, even for a non-religious person like myself. (Source)

Jason Nemer Oftentimes before meditation, I’ll just open [this book] randomly to a page and read about something and then just have that be what I steep in as I sit. (Source)

Dr. Andrew Weil I find those verses which were the sole output of this philosopher to be remarkably right on. (Source)

Michael Gervais For me, the Tao Te Ching is something that’s been monumental in understanding the nuances of human nature. It expresses in 81 principles very complicated beautiful zen prose about life and human nature. (Source)

Brian MacKenzie Once you get to a certain level, it’s like, wow. (Source)