The best people are like water, which benefits all things and does not compete with them. It stays in lowly places that others reject. This is why it is so similar to the Way.

Under heaven all can see beauty as beauty only because there is ugliness. All can know good as good only because there is evil. Therefore having and not having arise together. Difficult and easy complement each other. Long and short contrast each other. High and low rest upon each other. Voice and sound harmonize each other. Front and back follow one another.

What resists, persists.

Favor and disgrace are like fear. Favor is in a higher place, and disgrace in a lower place. When you win them you are like being in fear, and when you lose them you are also like being in fear. So favor and disgrace are like fear.

Weapons are ominous tools. They are abhorred by all creatures. Anyone who follows the Way shuns them.

The wise man, after learning something new, is afraid to learn anything more until he has put his first lesson into practice.

Abandon wisdom, discard knowledge, and people will benefit a hundredfold.