If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.
—Anonymous

Note from the WorshipWeb team:

This quotation is often attributed to Laozi (also transliterated as “Lao-Tse”), including in Singing the Living Tradition, where it appears as reading #602. Laozi is the possibly-apocryphal author of the Tao Te Ching, whose text is available in Chinese and English in many places, including the Chinese Text Project and Project Gutenberg. But the quotation above does not seem similar to anything in the Tao Te Ching. The passage that comes closest is Chapter 54, which mentions the importance of dé (德) in the self, the family, the village, the nation, and the world, but which does not make any connections between these levels of society, which is the whole point of the quotation above. (Also, the quotation lists these levels of society from larger to smaller, while Chapter 54 lists them from smaller to larger. Further, 德 is usually translated as “virtue” or “morality”; we have found no English versions of the Tao Te Ching that translate 德 as “peace.”)

On the other hand, the quotation is similar in structure to the Great Learning, one of the Four Books of Confucianism. Here is the relevant passage in the English translation from the Chinese Text Project:

The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom, first ordered well their own states. 
Wishing to order well their states, they first regulated their families. 
Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. 
Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. 
Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. 
Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. 
Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things. 
Things being investigated, knowledge became complete. 
Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere. 
Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified. 
Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated. 
Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated. 
Their families being regulated, their states were rightly governed. 
Their states being rightly governed, the whole kingdom was made tranquil and happy. 

In summary, we have found no evidence that the “Peace in the Heart” quotation was written by Laozi, who was Daoist; instead, it may have been inspired by this Confucian text. And yet it is different enough from the Great Learning that it cannot be said to be even a loose translation of that. We feel it is best attributed to Anonymous.