Being satisfied with little, you can gain much. Seeking much you will go astray. The wise heeds this precept. If it could be so with all people!

With that gentleness I can be bold; with that economy I can be liberal; shrinking from taking precedence of others, I can become a vessel of the highest honour.

Does one scent appeal more than another? Do you prefer this flavor, or that feeling? Is your practice sacred and your work profane? Then your mind is separated: from itself, from oneness, from the Tao.

For one gains by losing And loses by gaining.

Because he (the Sage) demands no honor, he will never be dishonored.

All men desire to free themselves solely from death; they do not know how to free themselves from life.

Nature's way is simple and easy, but men prefer the intricate and artificial.