. . . the mind is desperate to fix the river {of events} in place: Possessed by ideas of the past, preoccupied with images of the future, it overlooks the plain truth of the moment.

Let the country be small, and the inhabitants few.

The grandest virtue seems deficient.

Misfortune is the root of good fortune; good fortune gives birth to misfortune.

The progress of the Way seems retreating.

The truly great ones rely on substance, and not on surface, hold on to the fruit, and not to the flower.

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.