Those who have compassion when they do battle will be victorious. Those who likewise defend themselves will be safe. Heaven will rescue and protect them with compassion.

The most able seems clumsy.

The sage does not act and therefore does not fail, does not seize and therefore does not lose.

If a country is governed with tolerance, the people are comfortable and honest. If a country is governed with repression, the people are depressed and crafty. When the will to power is in charge, the higher the ideals, the lower the results. Try to make people happy, and you lay the groundwork for misery. Try to make people moral, and you lay the groundwork for vice. Thus the Master is content to serve as an example and not to impose her will. She is pointed, but doesn't pierce. Straightforward, but supple. Radiant, but easy on the eyes.

Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires.

He who knows others is clever; He who knows himself has discernment.

When cleverness emerges There is great hypocrisy.