The sage wears coarse clothes, concealing jade.

To bear and not to own; to act and not lay claim; to do the work and let it go: for just letting it go is what makes it stay.

The Tao never acts with force, yet there is nothing that it can not do.

The supreme rulers are hardly known by their subjects. The lesser are loved and praised. The even lesser are feared. The least are despised.

True power is stillness within motion.

When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad. Being and non-being create each other. Difficult and easy support each other. Long and short define each other. High and low depend on each other. Before and after follow each other. Therefore the Master acts without doing anything and teaches without saying anything. Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go. She has but doesn't possess, acts but doesn't expect. When her work is done, she forgets it. That is why it lasts forever.

The well-run group is not a battlefield of egos.