When two opposing sides meet in battle, the one without an enemy will be victorious.

When many people are killed, they should be mourned and lamented. Those who are victorious in war should follow the rites of funerals.

No thought, no action, no movement, total stillness: only thus can one manifest the true nature and law of things from within and unconsciously, and at last become one with heaven and earth.

If a country is governed with tolerance, the people are comfortable and honest. If a country is governed with repression, the people are depressed and crafty. When the will to power is in charge, the higher the ideals, the lower the results. Try to make people happy, and you lay the groundwork for misery. Try to make people moral, and you lay the groundwork for vice. Thus the Master is content to serve as an example and not to impose her will. She is pointed, but doesn't pierce. Straightforward, but supple. Radiant, but easy on the eyes.

All things in the world come from being. And being comes from non-being.

Goodie-goodies are the thieves of virtue.

The sage attends to the belly, and not to what he sees.