If people live in constant fear of death, and if breaking the law is punished by death, then who would dare?

To realize that our knowledge is ignorance, This is a noble insight. To regard our ignorance as knowledge, This is mental sickness. Only when we are sick of the sickness Shall we cease to be sick. The Sage is not sick, being sick of sickness; This is the secret of health.

To bear the country's disgrace is to rule the shrines of soil and grain. To bear the country's misfortunes is to be the king of the world.

There is something obscure which is complete before heaven and earth arose; tranquil, quiet, standing alone without change, moving without peril. It could be the mother of everything. Not knowing its name, I call it Tao.

When two opposing sides meet in battle, the one without an enemy will be victorious.

Whatever is flexible and living will tend to grow; whatever is rigid and blocked will wither and die.

Activity conquers coldness. Stillness conquers heat.