The Tao never acts with force, yet there is nothing that it can not do.

You cannot know the body by studying the finger, and you cannot understand the universe by learning one science.

The rigid tree will be felled.

He who, conscious of being strong, is content to be weak, he shall be the paragon of mankind. Being the paragon of mankind, Virtue will never desert him. He returns to the state of a little child.

A tree as wide as a man's embrace grows from a tiny shoot.

Clay is molded to form a cup, But it is on its non-being that the utility of the cup depends. Doors and windows are cut out to make a room, But it is on its non-being that the utility of the room depends. Therefore turn being into advantage, and turn non-being into utility.

Of all things, none does not revere the Way and honor virtue. Reverence of the Way and honoring virtue were not demanded of them, but it is in their nature.