Laozi

Laozi (traditionally dated to the 6th–4th century BCE) is the legendary author traditionally credited with the Tao Te Ching, the foundational text of Daoism. His historical existence is debated: the earliest biographical account, in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, is written centuries after the period it describes. The Tao Te Ching is a short collection of roughly eighty-one verses on the Tao (the Way), wu wei (effortless action), and the value of humility, simplicity, and receptivity. Its concise, paradoxical style has made it one of the most translated works in world literature.