Reviews

I read the Stephen Mitchell translation of the Tao Te Ching in one sitting, three times. It is stunning, so lovely. It is a treasure.
—Louise Erdrich

[This translation] comes as close to being definitive for our time as any I can imagine. It embodies the virtues its translator credits to the Chinese original: a gemlike lucidity that is radiant with humor, grace, largeheartedness, and deep wisdom.
—Huston Smith, author of The Religions of Man

Stephen Mitchell's great talent is to communicate with the profound simplicity utterly appropriate for this task. The obscure has been made transparent and available. [This is] a book beautiful in every respect.
—Joan M. Erikson, Common Boundary

Stephen Mitchell is an extraordinary scholar and translator. His rendition of the Tao Te Ching is beautiful and accessible; the English, as "fluid as melting ice," is a joy to read throughout.
—The New Republic

Mitchell…has translated the Tao Te Ching…with passion and scholarly dexterity. None of the other translations comes off as smooth, clear, and simple — as Taoist — as this one… His intuition and willingness to improvise revitalizes the message of the Tao Te Ching.
—San Francisco Chronicle