He who hoards much loses much.
What has no substance can penetrate what has no opening.
The scholar gains every day; the man of Tao loses every day.
Success is as dangerous as failure. Hope is as hollow as fear.
The first practice is the practice of undiscriminating virtue: take care of those who are deserving; also, and equally, take care of those who are not. When you extend your virtue in all directions without discriminating, you feet are firmly planted on the path that returns to the Tao.
Understand this if nothing else: spiritual freedom and oneness with the Tao are not randomly bestowed gifts, but the rewards of conscious self-transformation and self-evolution.