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Read The Tao Teh King in English — and understand every line.

Read “The Tao Teh King” by Laozi in English. Tap any word for its meaning, hear how it sounds, and save it to a memory-driven review schedule.

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Author
Laozi
Level
C1
Original title
道德經
Length
~10k words
Reading time
~1 h
Translation
Built-in dictionary
read.langorbit.com / tao-te-ching
The Tao Teh KingLaozi · C1
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DICTIONARY

cherish
verb

TRANSLATION

дорожить, лелеять

to feel warm affection for; to hold something dear.

She cherishes the memory of her grandmother.
Она дорожит памятью о своей бабушке.

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The opening

How “The Tao Teh King” begins

The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao.

The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name.

(Conceived of as) having no name, it is the Originator of heaven and earth; (conceived of as) having a name, it is the Mother of all things.

Always without desire we must be found, If its deep mystery we would sound; But if desire always within us be, Its outer fringe is all that we shall see.

Public domain — the whole book is yours to read in the app.

Library

What you get while you read

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About the book

Why The Tao Teh King is a great book to read in English

Eighty-one brief chapters of paradox and quiet advice attributed to Laozi — on water that wears down stone, leaders who are barely noticed, and strength that looks like yielding. The shortest book in the library, and one you can reread for years; the Chinese original sits beside the English line by line.

On LangOrbit you read “The Tao Teh King” with a safety net: the translation is one tap away when a sentence runs long, every word opens its meaning in context and can be saved for spaced-repetition review, and the grammar behind the trickier lines is explained right where you meet it.

The Tao Teh King

Read “The Tao Teh King” by Laozi in English. Tap any word for its meaning, hear how it sounds, and save it to a memory-driven review schedule.

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