A good wanderer leaves no trace.

Knowing others is to be clever. Knowing yourself is to be enlightened. Overcoming others requires force. Overcoming yourself requires strength.

He who has little will receive. He who has much will be embarrassed.

As it acts in the world, the Tao is like the bending of a bow. The top is bent downward; the bottom is bent up. It adjusts excess and deficiency so that there is perfect balance.

The sage desires no desire, does not value rare treasures, learns without learning, recovers what people have left behind.

The nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth. The named is the mother of all things.

When the government is quite unobtrusive, people are indeed pure. When the government is quite prying, people are indeed conniving.