Tao Te Ching
Insight sees the insignificant.
Strength knows how to yield.
Hollowed out
clay makes a pot,
where the pot’s not,
is where it’s useful
“You don’t have to go out the door
to know what goes on in the world.
You don’t have to look out the window
to see the way of heaven.
The farther you go,
the less you know.”
“People whose power is real fulfill their obligations;
people whose power is hollow insist on their claims.”
“Living people
are soft and tender.
Corpses are hard and stiff.
The ten thousand things,
the living grass, the trees,
are soft, pliant.
Dead, they’re dry and brittle.”
The more ingenious the skillful are,
the more monstrous their inventions.
The louder the call for law and order,
the more the thieves and con men multiply.
Alas! misery lies under happiness,
and happiness sits on misery, alas!
Who knows where it will end?
Nothing is certain.
The normal changes into the monstrous,
the fortunate into the unfortunate,
and our bewilderment
goes on and on.
The great ruler speaks little
and his words are priceless
He works without self-interest
and leaves no trace
When all is finished, the people say,
“It happened by itself”