Can you care for the people and rule the country and not be cunning?

Nothing is weaker than water, Yet for overcoming what is hard and strong, Nothing surpasses it.

If you have really attained wholeness, everything will flock to you.

When the great Tao is abandoned, benevolence and righteousness arise.

A great country needs more people to serve it. A small country needs more people to serve. So, if both shall get what they need, the great country ought to yield.

That which shrinks must first expand.

We put thirty spokes to make a wheel: But it is on the hole in the center that the use of the cart hinges. We make a vessel from a lump of clay; But it is the empty space within the vessel that makes it useful. We make doors and windows for a room; But it is the empty spaces that make the room livable. Thus, while existence has advantages, It is the emptiness that makes it useful.