Elderism #21

“To rule a country, one must act with care, as when frying the smallest fish.”

That’s from the Tao Te Ching, the 6th century BC book of aphorisms. Legend has it that the book was written by Lao Tzu, a disgruntled historian of the Chou dynasty  who was sick and tired of how the local aristocracy was running things, and so retired to the mountains to Thoreau-ify. En route, a gatekeeper asked Lao Tzu to write down his teachings. Et voila the Tao Te Ching, which Lao Tzu–if indeed he existed–wrote in the aphoristic style of the I Ching, which he would have known well.

I did a radio commentary about the Tao Te Ching for NPR’s “All Things Considered” yesterday. It is here. [Sound of gong.]