He who knows he has enough is rich.

Excellent leaders of people lower themselves.

Of the second-rate leaders people speak respectfully saying, "He has done this, he has done that." Of the first-rate leaders, they do not say this. They say, "We have done it all ourselves."

Practice non-action. Work without doing.

Weapons are ominous tools. They are abhorred by all creatures. Anyone who follows the Way shuns them.

The ten thousand things flourish and then each returns to the root from which it came. Returning to the root is stillness. Through stillness each fulfils its destiny.

Thirty spokes are joined in the wheel's hub. The hole in the middle makes it useful.