He who regards many things easy will find many difficulties. Therefore the sage regards things difficult, and consequently never has difficulties.

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

It is because every one tinder Heaven recognizes beauty as beauty that the idea of ugliness exists.

If you overesteem great men, people become powerless. If you overvalue possessions, people begin to steal. The Master leads by emptying people's minds and filling their cores, by weakening their ambition and toughening their resolve. He helps people lose everything they know, everything they desire, and creates confusion in those who think that they know. Practice not-doing, and everything will fall into place.

Heaven and earth are ruthless, and treat the various creatures as straw dogs; the sage is ruthless, and treats others as straw dogs.

To the good I would be good; to the not-good I would also be good, in order to make them good.

The slaying of multitudes should be mourned with sorrow. A victory should be celebrated with the funeral rite.