Lao Tzu

Nik Marcel

The Tao Te Ching contains the teachings of Lao Tzu, and is considered a fundamental text of the Taoist tradition. The English text has been translated from the French.

English & French

Tao Te Ching (for Novices)

Patricia Melova

Sanne

He was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility. But he knew he had attained it and he knew it was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true pride.

Let him think I am more man than I am and I will be so.

The punishment of the hook is nothing. The punishment of hunger, and that he is against something that he does not comprehend, is everything.

‘I’d like to buy some [luck] if there's any place they sell it,’ he said.

eryc

“But man is not made for defeat," he said. "A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”

Now is no time to think of what you do not have.

Think of what you can do with that there is

It's silly not to hope. It's a sin he thought.

I may not be as stong as I think, but I know many tricks and I have resolution.

“Fish," he said softly, aloud, "I'll stay with you until I am dead.”

The mere writing structure and sentence composition of this book is very “trail of thought” but it adds to the philosophy. It reminds me to remain present and humble. 

Anna Cassmer Ling-Vannérus

Don't think, old man, he said aloud. Sail on this course and take it when it comes.

Fight them until I die. But in the dark now and no glow showing and no lights and only the wind and the steady pull of the sail he felt that perhaps he was already dead. He put his two hands together and felt the palms. They were not dead and he could bring the pain of life by simply opening and closing them. He leaned his back against the stern and knew he was not dead. His shoulders told him. 

Rebecca Harwood

Eat that, galanos. And make a dream you've killed a man. 

Iris van der zanden

But I must think, he thought. Because it is all I have left.

Ernest Hemingway

The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway’s most enduring works. Told in language of great simplicity and power, the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal—a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream, on the water for months without a catch, but refusing to stop trying.

Here Hemingway recasts, in strikingly contemporary style, the timeless theme of courage and commitment in the face of defeat, of personal triumph won from loss. Written in 1952, this hugely successful novella confirmed his talent and presence in the literary world and played a large part in his winning the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature.

The Old Man and the Sea

In modern times, this book feels anti-algorithmic.

One fisherman. One boat. Blood, salt, fatigue.

Too far out in the sea for hours where nothing happens.

The nothingness is the medium with which Hemingway conveys everything. The struggle, the restraint, the wrestle with a challenge.

Almost like punching a bag for hours. There’s rhythm, no arc.

A book about maintaining form under pressure. 

Santiago, the fisherman, doesn’t “discover” himself in the sea. He doesn’t transform. He doesn’t resolve a psychological arc. He holds the line. That’s it.

Hemingway’s ethic is brutally conservative here: dignity is not self-expression or growth; dignity is not breaking.

The book is not inspiring nor magnetic, just coherent.

Ritik Sahni

In modern times, this book feels anti-algorithmic.

One fisherman. One boat. Blood, salt, fatigue.

Too far out in the sea for hours where nothing happens.

The nothingness is the medium with which Hemingway conveys everything. The struggle, the restraint, the wrestle with a challenge.

Almost like punching a bag for hours. There’s rhythm, no arc.

A book about maintaining form under pressure. 

Santiago, the fisherman, doesn’t “discover” himself in the sea. He doesn’t transform. He doesn’t resolve a psychological arc. He holds the line. That’s it.

Hemingway’s ethic is brutally conservative here: dignity is not self-expression or growth; dignity is not breaking.

The book is not inspiring nor magnetic, just coherent.

Emily Lucie

Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English

Tao te Ching - 1 Fen Gia Fu. tr II English, Jan tr III Title.

Tao Lao Tsu Te Ching

Some people might find it hard to proceed and some might easily understand this book in the most gentle way. I think I'm the latter, this book directly talk to my heart in the most tender way possible.

Buku ini berusia lebih dari 2400 tahun, tetapi hingga detik ini, saya seperti dipertontonkan keadaan masa lampau yang problematikanya identik dengan apa yang terjadi sekarang. Rasanya, 2000 tahun hanya dipisahkan sekat tipis. 

Dalam buku ini, Laozi lebih banyak menitikberatkan pada keseimbangan, penguasa harus punya kelembutan hati, harus menjadi penyejuk bagi rakyat, bukannya mengedepankan paksaan, kekerasan dan dominasi saat rakyat masih banyak menderita.

Ada satu bagian dari buku ini yang membuat saya merinding karena korelasinya dengan apa yang terjadi saat ini, di negara ini dan seluruh belahan dunia yang terasa dekat, mencekat dan nyata;

Because the rulers eat up the money in taxes.

Why do the people think so little of death?

Because the rulers demand too much of life. 

Therefore the people take death lightly. 

Having little to live on, one knows better than to value life too much. »

Saya kebetulan membaca buku ini setelah selesai dengan Analects yang berisi buah pikiran Confucius. Kalau boleh diibaratkan, membaca Analects seperti seorang murid yang diharuskan membaca naskah panjang secara lantang kemudian Dao De Jing datang sebagai segelas air yang menghilangkan dahaga.

Analects lebih seperti didikan yang tegas sedangkan Dao De Jing sendiri lebih seperti nasihat yang lembut dan penuh kasih. Memang tidak bisa langsung dibandingkan begitu saja karena kedua tokoh mempunyai background yang berbeda dan Analects sendiri lebih seperti pedoman bagi kaum pelajar masa itu, terjemahannya juga lebih terasa nuansa akademika.

Dao De Jing yang saya baca diterjemahkan oleh Gia-Fu Feng, seorang pengikut Taoist yang secara lembut dan serius menyampaikan ajaran Laozi lewat buku ini dan cara yang beliau tempuh sangat berhasil mengetuk hati saya untuk lebih mudah memahami buku ini.

Seperti buku kuno lain yang telah melawati perjalanan abad, perubahan masa dan perbedaan pikiran pembacanya, tiap orang akan memiliki perspektif yang berbeda saat membacanya. Patut dicoba meski hanya sebatas napak tilas pemikiran filsuf terdahulu. 

Some people might find it hard to proceed and some might easily understand this book in the most gentle way. I think I'm the latter, this book directly talk to my heart in the most tender way possible.

Buku ini berusia lebih dari 2400 tahun, tetapi hingga detik ini, saya seperti dipertontonkan keadaan masa lampau yang problematikanya identik dengan apa yang terjadi sekarang. Rasanya, 2000 tahun hanya dipisahkan sekat tipis. 

Dalam buku ini, Laozi lebih banyak menitikberatkan pada keseimbangan, penguasa harus punya kelembutan hati, harus menjadi penyejuk bagi rakyat, bukannya mengedepankan paksaan, kekerasan dan dominasi saat rakyat masih banyak menderita.

Ada satu bagian dari buku ini yang membuat saya merinding karena korelasinya dengan apa yang terjadi saat ini, di negara ini dan seluruh belahan dunia yang terasa dekat, mencekat dan nyata;

« Why are the people starving?

Because the rulers eat up the money in taxes.

Therefore the people are starving.

Why are the people rebellious?

Because the rulers interfere too much.

Therefore they are rebellious.

Why do the people think so little of death?

Because the rulers demand too much of life. 

Therefore the people take death lightly. 

Having little to live on, one knows better than to value life too much. »

Saya kebetulan membaca buku ini setelah selesai dengan Analects yang berisi buah pikiran Confucius. Kalau boleh diibaratkan, membaca Analects seperti seorang murid yang diharuskan membaca naskah panjang secara lantang kemudian Dao De Jing datang sebagai segelas air yang menghilangkan dahaga.

Analects lebih seperti didikan yang tegas sedangkan Dao De Jing sendiri lebih seperti nasihat yang lembut dan penuh kasih. Memang tidak bisa langsung dibandingkan begitu saja karena kedua tokoh mempunyai background yang berbeda dan Analects sendiri lebih seperti pedoman bagi kaum pelajar masa itu, terjemahannya juga lebih terasa nuansa akademika.

Dao De Jing yang saya baca diterjemahkan oleh Gia-Fu Feng, seorang pengikut Taoist yang secara lembut dan serius menyampaikan ajaran Laozi lewat buku ini dan cara yang beliau tempuh sangat berhasil mengetuk hati saya untuk lebih mudah memahami buku ini.

Seperti buku kuno lain yang telah melawati perjalanan abad, perubahan masa dan perbedaan pikiran pembacanya, tiap orang akan memiliki perspektif yang berbeda saat membacanya. Patut dicoba meski hanya sebatas napak tilas pemikiran filsuf terdahulu. 

It felt as if I was there in the ocean, salty humid brisa on my skin, rawness burning of my palm, pungent fishy air and stubborn, resilient vitality. 

william wukkuan

Frank Breugelmans 

Slow start, but I ended up really vibing with that fisherman hoe. I was very worried Santiago was going to die without seeing the boy again or get the recognition he deserved for catching a big one.

Him and his fish friend were a thang tho #nohomo

Nasser Alhouti

Slow start, but I ended up really vibing with that fisherman hoe. I was very worried Santiago was going to die without seeing the boy again or get the recognition he deserved for catching a big one.

Him and his fish friend were a thang tho #nohomo

what an amazing read, full of philosophy and wisdom and insights about life and about time and challenges, reminded me a lot of aristotle’s philosophy of life, and concepts of happiness and peace and love for the self and confidence. truly truly amazing 

Weliton Soranzo

Lara

MOST LOVED. MOST RED. Ten must-read modern classics. '"But man is not made for defeat," he said. "A man can be destroyed but not defeated."' In the baking sun, in a small village off the coast of Havana, lives an old fisherman named Santiago. It has been eighty-four days since he last caught a fish. The locals call it bad luck. Refusing to accept defeat, Santiago sets off in his tiny skiff alone, fishing further out than ever before. It is here, over a number of days, that he, his will and his character are tested beyond imagination. Faced with bad weather, hunger and thirst, the old man finds himself in battle with a giant marlin, a fish bigger than any to have been caught before. Nature is not kind and gentle in this fable, nor is Hemingway. You hold in your hands one of the very best pieces of writing to have ever been created.

Peculiar book that's incredibly boring but so page turning too. 

The sea is such a cruel mistress and man is not meant to tame it. 

Hemingway says absolutely nothing with this book and I find myself perplexed about what it makes me want to say, if anything at all. 

Liam Richardson

Peculiar book that's incredibly boring but so page turning too. 

The sea is such a cruel mistress and man is not meant to tame it. 

Hemingway says absolutely nothing with this book and I find myself perplexed about what it makes me want to say, if anything at all. 

A different reading experience.

Yeah there was some suffering but it’s not like he had to juggle unemployment and Fortnite in the same day. Smh this mf overreacting for clout. 

Miles Silverstein

El viejo y el mar

Rocío de la Hera

lo leí en una hora, me rompió y arregló el alma en 160 páginas. Libro sobre la soledad y el no rendirse ante la adversidad, por más difícil que sea y por más vencido que te sientas. Hemingway poeta perdido te amo

Evan

My first Hemingway, it's pretty amazing the man can get a lot of story out of so few elements. An old man, his small boat at sea, and a big fish. It's nothing super exciting and yet he makes this short read a pretty high-stakes thrill.
 I recommend the book to everyone, I think it's a fun journey that despite the boring sound of being mostly a man's inner contemplations of his current situation and life. I enjoyed it a lot and intend to give it as a gift.

Itzel

We had to read this for school this year.

I didn't like it.

I almost never like books that we have to read for school.

But I just found this one boooring. Like, really, an entire book to describe how long it took to fish a damn fish.

I understand that it's supposed to illustrate about, idk, perseverance, and stuff like that, but it was WAY too SLOW for my taste. So thank you.

It was weird how he kept talking to his hands.

It was like Gollum.

The Old Man and the Sea is much more than the story of a fisherman or an American-style hero. It is a fable about the process of individuation, with the wise old man, the ego fish, the sea mind and the divine child.

Hygor Zorak

I have the softest spot for stories like this

Clay Carey

Christine

read at 12am on sunday night 
class was literally the next morning

in which a book can drag on for ages... and ages... and people go crazy and feesh and santa mango and a U h

video!
much better.

Vicky  Nuñez 

I loved this book. I thought it was brilliant. This is the first book I ever read of Hemingway and I am truly impressed and can't wait to read more of him.

about time i read this piece of hemingway’s. it’s so him and oh boy do i love that old man.  

lily taggart

Natalie

My opinion of this book is more of a testament to Hemingway's significant influence on American literature: it reads like an archetypical American fiction. An engaging read, nevertheless, as the struggle between the old man and the obstacles he faces at sea and the old man's musings on aging are well described.

Set in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Havana, Hemingway's magnificent fable is the story of an old man, a young boy and a giant fish. In a perfectly crafted story, which won for Hemingway the Nobel Prize for Literature, is a unique and timeless vision of the beauty and grief of man's challenge to the elements in which he lives.

Ryan 

so i just read 128 pages about an old man...fishing for 3 days straight. that was so pointless, i would say.

Der alte Mann und das Meer

Leon Beckert

Charles Scribner Jr. single handedly turns a five star book into a horrible experience by putting a spoiler that disclose the entire story in the foreword. I would love to give five but given the circumstances, I can‘t.

you should never go to the sea by yourself (yes, even though you're introvert and love to speak to yourself).

(to the introverts out there, recommend this book to your extrovert friends)

Tao Te Ching (for Novices) English & French