People starve. The rulers consume too much with their taxes. That is why people starve.

If you go searching for the Great Creator, you will come back empty-handed. The source of the universe is ultimately unknowable, a great invisible river flowing forever through a vast and fertile valley. Silent and uncreated, it creates all things.

Seeing the small is called clarity.

First, we must do our own personal work, then we tend the necessary work of our family, then our community, then the world.

All things arise in unison. Thereby we see their return.

Nothing is weaker than water, Yet for overcoming what is hard and strong, Nothing surpasses it.

Therefore the Sage embraces Unity, and is a model for all under Heaven. He is free from self-display, therefore he shines forth; from self-assertion, therefore he is distinguished; from self-glorification, therefore he has merit; from self-exaltation, therefore he rises superior to all. Inasmuch as he does not strive, there is no one in the world who can strive with him.