The Tao That Can Be Told

This is the opening verse of the Tao Te Ching, the foundational text of Taoism attributed to Lao Tzu, a figure of uncertain historicity who may have lived in the 6th century BC. The text's very first words — paradoxically, a text that insists the ultimate truth cannot be spoken — establish its central philosophical problem: language points toward the Tao but can never contain it. The Tao Te Ching has been translated into English more than any book except the Bible, and translations vary widely; this rendering follows the widely read Stephen Mitchell version.