Excellent conquerors do not engage.

Go to the people. Learn from them. Live with them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. The best of leaders when the job is done, when the task is accomplished, the people will say we have done it ourselves.

In the Way of Heaven, there is no partiality of love; it is always on the side of the good man.

He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much.

Can you love or guide someone without any kind of expectation?

The more prohibitions you have, the less virtuous people will be. Try to make people moral, and you lay the groundwork for vice.

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt. Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench. Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.