Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.

...the more you talk of it, the less you understand.

[The Master] doesn't glitter like a jewel... [but is] as rugged and common as a stone.

Stretch the bow to the very full, and you will wish you had stopped in time.

Love the whole world as if it were your self; then you will truly care for all things.

Cautious, like crossing a river in the winter.

He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much.