Who is the author of the partial quote "You go thousands of miles my
friend, once forever" ?

---

Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 24 Jun 2003 09:18 PDT

I've found a similar quote by a Chinese sage, but it is not attributed
to Lao Tsu:

"Here we part, friend, once forever.

 You go ten thousand miles, drifting away

 Like an unrooted water-grass."

If this is the quote you're looking for, I'll be glad to give you
information on its source.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 26 Jun 2003 13:19 PDT

If the slightly different quote I mentioned above is not the quote you
seek, it would be very helpful if you could provide a few more
details. Do you remember where and approximately when you came across
the quote that you're remembering? Any additional information would be
welcome; sometimes even a tiny clue can lead to an answer.

Perhaps one of the most recognizable quotes as stated/written by Lao
Zi is "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

Not what you're looking for? The line in question, then, may be from a
Tang poem named "At Heron Lodge." The following is a transcript of
that poem in Traditional Chinese (Big5 encoding) and its relative
English translation:

µÇûXȸ˜Ç [ÍõÖ®œo]
°×ÈÕÒÀɽ±M£¬ üSºÓÈ뺣Á÷¡£ 
Óû¸FǧÀïÄ¿£¬ ¸üÉÏÒ»ŒÓ˜Ç¡£ 

At Heron Lodge (Wang Zhihuan -- Tang)
Mountains forboden the white sun, 
And oceans deplete the Yellow River; 
But you will widen your view a thousandfold
By climbing just one flight of stairs.

Pardon, but the encoding above is in GB.