Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Attribution ·5 of 348
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
They never said that.
What people say
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
What was actually said
"A journey of a thousand li begins beneath one's feet." Laozi (not Confucius) — Tao Te Ching 64 (c. 6th–4th century BC)
Why it stuck
Two errors — first, it's from the Tao Te Ching (Laozi), not the Analects (Confucius). Second, the original Chinese 千里之行，始於足下 ("a thousand-li journey begins beneath the foot") describes the starting point, not the act of stepping.
A Chinese li is roughly one-third of a mile, which also technically makes the modern translation distance-inaccurate.
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.