Have patience. Wait until the mud settles and the water is clear. Remain unmoving until right action arises by itself.

Greed is costly. Assembled fortunes are lost.

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

We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move. We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want. We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable. We work with being, but non-being is what we use.

Without going out-of-doors, one can know all he needs to know. Without even looking out of his window, one can grasp the nature of everything. Without going beyond his own nature, one can achieve ultimate wisdom. Therefore, the intelligent man knows all he needs to know without going away, And sees all he needs to see without looking elsewhere, And does all he needs to do wihout undue exertion.

The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself.

He does not seek power - yet people follow him.