Q0163

Laozi

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

Know contentment, and you will not be disgraced; know when to stop, and you will not be imperiled — thus you can endure.
Thinker Laozi
School Daoism
Source Daodejing, Ch. 44
Theme Contentment
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Daodejing, Ch. 44, within the tradition of Daoism. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of contentment, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Laozi's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Laozi. (n.d.). Know contentment, and you will not be disgraced; know when to stop, and you will not be imperiled — thus you can endure. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0163

MLA: Laozi. “Know contentment, and you will not be disgraced;….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0163.

Chicago: Laozi. “Know contentment, and you will not be disgraced;….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0163.

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. Difficult affairs under Heaven must arise from the easy; great affairs under Heaven must arise from the small.
  5. Humans model themselves on earth; earth on heaven; heaven on the Way; and the Way on what is naturally so.

All quotations by Laozi

Same theme

More on contentment

  1. Nature's wealth has its bounds and is easy to procure; but the wealth of vain fancies recedes to an infinite distance.
  2. Wealth does not take away need — it kindles new wants.
  3. 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.
  4. The cry of the flesh is not to be hungry, not to be thirsty, not to be cold.

Browse the contentment theme