Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful. Everyone knows this, but no one can do it.

When the uncarved wood is split, its parts are put to use. When the sage is put to use, he becomes the head.

The subtlest of subtleties, this is the gateway to all mysteries.

That which offers no resistance, overcomes the hardest substances.

Treat the large as the small and the few as the many.

Those who show off do not shine.

That which offers no resistance can enter where there is no space.