Enemy Quotes
Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are.
"Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are."— Lao Tzu
Download in different sizes
Meaning of this quote
Patience should extend beyond people who are easy to like. The passage describes a steady response to human relationships, rather than requiring passive acceptance of abuse or unfair treatment.
Key takeaway:
Practise patience without making goodwill depend on agreement.
Origin of the quote
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 67, in Stephen Mitchell's modern English version.
Who actually said this?
VerifiedThe sentence matches the cited version. It belongs to a passage on three guiding qualities and should acknowledge Mitchell's English rendering alongside the traditional Laozi attribution.
