Good words shall gain you honor in the marketplace, but good deeds shall gain you friends among men.

The master does his job and then stops. He understands that the universe is forever out of control, and that trying to dominate events goes against the current of the Tao.

Giving birth and nourishing, Bearing yet not possessing, Working yet not taking credit, Leading yet not dominating, This is the Primal Virtue.

Can you love or guide someone without any kind of expectation?

The sage governs by emptying senses and filling bellies.

Man, when living, is soft and tender; when dead, he is hard and tough. All animals and plants when living are tender and delicate; when dead they become withered and dry. Therefore it is said: the hard and tough are parts of death; the soft and tender are parts of life.

Great indeed is the sublimity of the creative, to which all beings owe their beginning and which permeates all heaven.