LAO TZU

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You’re thinking of a passage from Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching that describes how people are soft and weak at birth, but stiff and hard at death.

Here’s the quote (varies slightly depending on translation):

“When people are born, they are soft and weak.
When they die, they are stiff and hard.
All things, including the grass and trees, are soft and pliable in life, but dry and brittle in death.
Stiffness is thus a companion of death; flexibility a companion of life.”

It’s often cited from Chapter 76 of the Tao Te Ching.

Would you like me to show you a few different translations of that passage side by side, so you can see how wording changes but the meaning stays consistent?

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