It is wisdom to know others. It is enlightenment to know oneself.

What man has more than enough and gives it to the world? Only the man of Tao.

The sage acts without taking credit. He accomplishes without dwelling on it. He does not want to display his worth.

When the Way governs the world, the proud stallions drag dung carriages. When the Way is lost to the world, war horses are bred outside the city.

The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. The unnamable is the eternally real. Naming is the origin of all particular things. Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations. Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source. This source is called darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gateway to all understanding.

Take time to listen to what is said without words, to obey the law too subtle to be written, to worship the unnameable and to embrace the unformed.

A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind. Thus by nature's own decree, the soft and gentle are triumphant.