While the Chinese of the late 20th century are busy with the pursuit of wealth, in the West, in Germany alone there are 40 to 50 different translated editions of Laozi, and in the US the New York Times once chose Laozi as one of the greatest authors of all time, "on a par with Shakespeare, Goethe and Tolstoy.
當二十世紀的華人忙著追求財富；在西方，僅德國就有四、五十種老子翻譯本，美國紐約時報還曾將老子選為「十大作家之首」，與莎士比亞、歌德、托爾斯泰並列… …。