Through return to simple living comes control of desires. In control of desires stillness is attained. In stillness the world is restored.
LaoziMan at his birth is supple and tender, but in death, he is rigid and hard. Thus, suppleness and tenderness accompany life, but rigidity and hardness accompany death.
LaoziOther people are joyous, like on the feast of the ox, like on the way up to the terrace in the spring. I alone am inert, giving no sign, like a newborn baby who has not learned to smile.
Laozi