Q0161

“Difficult affairs under Heaven must arise from the easy; great affairs under…” — Laozi (Daodejing, Ch. 63)

Verified English quotation. Primary source: Daodejing, Ch. 63. Theme: method.

English

Difficult affairs under Heaven must arise from the easy; great affairs under Heaven must arise from the small.
Thinker Laozi
School Daoism
Source Daodejing, Ch. 63
Theme Method
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to Daodejing, Ch. 63 and files it under Daoism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

About Laozi

Laozi is the traditional sage-author of the Daodejing, though historical identity and textual formation remain contested. Early tradition places him in the sixth century BCE as an older contemporary of Confucius; many scholars see the received text as composite and later.

Interpretation

Laozi is stating a method: approach difficulty through what is easy about it, and greatness through what is small. The claim is not that large problems are illusory but that they have manageable components, and that attempting them whole is what makes them impossible. This is the companion to the previous chapter's advice to act before things consolidate. The chapter ends by warning against treating anything as too large to begin.

Why it matters

It is a practical answer to being overwhelmed: find the part that is currently easy, since the size of the whole is not what has to be handled at once.

Concepts in this quote

Method
Method appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat method as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Laozi. (n.d.). Difficult affairs under Heaven must arise from the easy; great affairs under Heaven must arise from the small. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0161

MLA: Laozi. “Difficult affairs under Heaven must arise from the….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0161.

Chicago: Laozi. “Difficult affairs under Heaven must arise from the….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0161.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “Difficult affairs under Heaven must arise from the…”?

The passage is attributed to Laozi, Daodejing, Ch. 63. The archive attributes this English wording to Daodejing, Ch. 63 and files it under Daoism. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

What does Laozi mean by method?

Across 4 recurring voices here (notably William of Ockham and Kwasi Wiredu), method is framed through Africana Philosophy and Scholasticism. Some passages define method; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language. This passage enters that discussion through method.

Same thinker

More from Laozi

  1. The highest good is like water. Water benefits the myriad things and does not contend; it dwells in places the multitude dislike — therefore it is close to the Way.
  2. One who knows others is wise; one who knows oneself is enlightened. One who conquers others has strength; one who conquers oneself is truly strong. One who knows contentment is rich; one who persists has will.
  3. A tree that fills the arms' embrace grows from a tiny shoot; a nine-story tower rises from a heap of earth; a journey of a thousand li begins beneath one's feet.
  4. Humans model themselves on earth; earth on heaven; heaven on the Way; and the Way on what is naturally so.
  5. Know contentment, and you will not be disgraced; know when to stop, and you will not be imperiled — thus you can endure.

All quotations by Laozi

Same theme

More on method

  1. It is through wonder that people both now begin and first began to philosophize.
  2. A person's character is their destiny.
  3. What is opposed brings together; from what differs comes the finest harmony.
  4. Death is nothing to us: for what has been dissolved has no sensation, and what has no sensation is nothing to us.
  5. Pleasure is the beginning and end of the happy life — not the pleasures of profligates, but freedom from pain in the body and from disturbance in the soul.

Browse the method theme