The Journey Of A Thousand Miles

From Chapter 64 of the Tao Te Ching, a collection of 81 short verses attributed to Lao Tzu and composed sometime in the 6th–4th century BC. The original Chinese — 千里之行，始於足下 — is one of the most directly translatable lines in the text. Chapter 64 meditates on the virtue of beginning small and acting before difficulty arises, reflecting the Taoist concept of wu wei (effortless action). Lao Tzu's historical existence is debated; modern scholars generally regard the text as a compilation rather than the work of a single author.