Does one scent appeal more than another? Do you prefer this flavor, or that feeling? Is your practice sacred and your work profane? Then your mind is separated: from itself, from oneness, from the Tao.

Creating without claiming, Doing without taking credit, Guiding without interfering, This is Primal Virtue.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.

Those who praise victory relish manslaughter. Those who relish manslaughter cannot reach their goals in the world.

The reason why rivers and seas are able to be lords over a hundred mountain streams, is that they know how to keep below them. That is why they are able to reign over all the mountain streams.

People are hard to govern. The rulers interfere with too much. That is why people are hard to govern.

Bend and you will be straight.