If you practice inaction, nothing will be left undone: For the way to acquire lordship over society is by invariably not interfering.

To bear and not to own; to act and not lay claim; to do the work and let it go: for just letting it go is what makes it stay.

The most able seems clumsy.

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

Complete your task. Seek no reward. Make no claims. Without faltering fully choose to do what you must do.

The more sharp weapons people have in a country, the bigger the disorder will be.

Superior leaders get things done with very little motion. They impart instruction not through many words, but through a few deeds. They keep informed about everything but interfere hardly at all. They are catalysts, and though things would not get done as well if they were not there, when they succeed they take no credit. And, because they take no credit, credit never leaves them.