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A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

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A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
Traditional Chinese千里之行，始於足下
Simplified Chinese千里之行，始于足下
Literal meaningA journey of a thousand Chinese miles (li) starts beneath one's feet
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinQiānlǐ zhī xíng, shǐyú zú xià
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationChīn léih jī hàhng, chí yū jūk hah
JyutpingCin1 lei5 zi1 hang4, ci2 jyu1 zuk1 ha6

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" is a common saying that originated from a Chinese proverb. The quotation is from Chapter 64 of the Tao Te Ching ascribed to Laozi,[1] although it is also erroneously ascribed to his contemporary Confucius.[2] This saying teaches that even the longest and most difficult ventures have a starting point; something which begins with one first step.

The phrase is also translated as "A journey of a thousand miles begins from under the feet"[3] and "A thousand mile journey begins where one stands"[4]

References

[edit]
Look up a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
  1. ^ "Lao Tzu". BBC World Service. Archived from the original on 2006-10-27. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
  2. ^ Keyes, Ralph (2007). The quote verifier : who said what, where, and when. New York: St. Martin's Publishing Group. p. 107. ISBN 978-1-4299-0617-3. OCLC 865093666At Internet Archive{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  3. ^ Laozi (2015-09-14). Dao De Jing: A Minimalist Translation (in Chinese). Translated by Linnell, Bruce R.
  4. ^ Dao De Jing. University of California Press. 2001-12-20. doi:10.1525/9780520931213. ISBN 978-0-520-93121-3.


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