Therefore complete people have no self, spiritual people have no merit, and saintly people have no name. (Ch. 1. CZTM, 65)

Humans, fish, birds, deer—who knows what form in the world is right? (Ch. 2. CZTM, 77)

Wang Ni replied, “Complete people are spiritual: a huge conflagration cannot heat them, freezing cold cannot chill them, lightning storms and gale-force winds cannot upset them. If you can be like that, you can ride on the energy of the clouds, mount the sun and moon, and travel beyond the four oceans. Even death and life do not change you, much less the edges of gain and loss.” (Ch. 2. CZTM, 77)

When the master came, it was his time; and when it was time to go, he went along. If you are at peace in your time and live harmoniously, sadness and happiness cannot affect you. Ancients called this God’s release of attachments. (Ch. 3. CZTM, 83)

This is trying to put out a blaze by means of fire, trying to stop a flood by means of water. This is called increasing what is already too much. (Ch. 4. CZTM, 85)

The perfection of virtue is to take care of your own mind in such a way that emotions cannot affect you when you already know nothing can be done, and are at peace with what is, with the decree of fate. (Ch. 4. CZTM, 89)

Words need someone to transmit them. The hardest thing in the world is to transmit communications between two parties who are both pleased or two parties who are both angry. If both are pleased, there will be an overflow of fine words; if both are angry, there will be an overflow of ugly words. Whatever is excessive is artificial, and the artificiality makes it hard to believe. When the message is dubious, the messenger is in danger. (Ch. 4. CZTM, 89)

Once on a journey Tzu-ch’i saw a huge tree with strange knots, big enough to shelter a thousand chariots in its shade. Tzu-ch’i said “What kind of tree is this? It must have unusual potential.”

Looking up at its branches, he saw they were too crooked to be used as beams. Looking down at its roots, he saw it was not solid enough to be used as coffins. When he tasted the leaves, his mouth became inflamed; and they had a smell that would madden a person for days.

Tzu-ch’i said, “This is in fact a useless tree. That’s how it got to be this big.”

Yes, this is why the sages cannot be exploited. (Ch. 4. CZTM, 93)

There is a place in the state of Sun where the conditions are right for several varieties of trees known for their straight trunks. Those of a certain size are cut by people looking to make stakes to tie monkeys. Larger ones are cut by people looking for imposing house frames. Yet larger ones are cut by people looking for material to make coffins for nobles and rich merchants. Therefore those trees never fulfill their natural age, but succumb to the ax along the way. This is the trouble with usefulness. (Ch. 4. CZTM, 93-4)

Confucius said, “When you look in terms of their difference, even the liver and gall bladder are separate. When you look in terms of their sameness, all things are one. (Ch. 5. CZTM, 96)

To know when nothing can be done and to be at peace with that, as if it were destiny, is something of which only those with virtue are capable. (Ch. 5. CZTM, 98)

Real people of ancient times did not know to like life and hate death. They came to life without rejoicing and went to death without resisting; they simply came unencumbered and went unencumbered. They did not forget their beginnings or look for their end. They accepted their lot gladly, then returned it without minding. (Ch. 6. CZTM, 105)

top 

names can be given, but not permanent labels.

(#1. TTCC, 9)

Not seeing anything to want

causes the mind not to be confused.

(#3. TTCC, 10)

Care about people’s approval

and you will be their prisoner.

(#9. TTCM)

Colors blind people’s eyes;

sounds deafen their ears;

flavors spoil people’s palates,

the chase and the hunt

craze people’s minds;

goods hard to obtain

make people’s actions harmful.

Therefore sages work for the middle

and not the eyes,

leaving the latter and taking the former.

(#12. TTCC, 14)

The five colours cause men not to see;

The five tones cause them not to hear;

The five flavours cause them not to taste.

The race and the chase drive men mad,

And rare goods lead them astray.

When wise men govern this is why

They favour the belly, not the eye,

The one accept, the other deny.

(#12. TTCR, 53)

Why does high status greatly afflict your person?

The reason we have a lot of trouble

is that we have selves.

If we had no selves

what troubles would we have?

(#13. TTCC, 15)

Our selves are why we suffer harm;

Without them what harm would there be?

(#13. TTCR, 55)

Success is as dangerous as failure.

Hope is as hollow as fear.

(#13. TTCM)

Who can, in turbidity,

use the gradual clarification of stillness?

Who can, long at rest,

use the gradual enlivening of movement?

(#15. TTCC, 17)

Do you have the patience to wait

till your mud settles and the water is clear?

Can you remain unmoving

till the right action arises by itself?

(#15. TTCM)

Attain the climax of emptiness,

preserve the utmost quiet:

as myriad things act in concert,

I thereby observe the return.

Things flourish,

then each returns to its root.

Returning to the root is called stillness;

stillness is called return to Life,

return to Life is called the constant;

knowing the constant is called enlightenment.

Acts at random, in ignorance of the constant, bode ill.

Knowing the constant gives perspective;

this perspective is impartial.

Impartiality is the highest nobility;

the highest nobility is divine,

and the divine is the Way.

This Way is everlasting,

not endangered by physical death.

(#16. TTCC, 18)

When the Great Way is deserted,

then there is humanitarian duty.

When intelligence comes forth,

there is great fabrication.

When relations are discordant,

there is family love.

When the national polity

is benighted and confused,

then there are loyal ministers.

(#18. TTCC, 19)

When the great Tao is forgotten,

goodness and piety appear.

When the body’s intelligence declines,

cleverness and knowledge step forth.

When there is no peace in the family,

filial piety begins.

When the country falls into chaos,

patriotism is born.

(#18. TTCM)

Eliminate sagacity, abandon knowledge,

and the people will benefit a hundredfold.

Eliminate humanitarianism, abandon duty,

and the people return to familial love.

Eliminate craft, abandon profit,

and theft will no longer exist.

These three become insufficient

when used for embellishment

causing there to be attachments.

See the basic,

embrace the unspoiled,

lessen selfishness,

diminish desire.

(#19. TTCC, 19)

Detach from learning and you have no worries.

How far apart are yes and yeah?

How far apart are good and bad?

The things people fear cannot but be feared.

Wild indeed the uncentered!

Most people celebrate

as if they were barbecuing a slaughtered cow,

or taking in the springtime vistas;

I alone am aloof,

showing no sign,

like an infant that doesn’t yet smile,

riding buoyantly

as if with nowhere to go.

Most people have too much;

I alone seem to be missing something.

Mine is indeed the mind of an ignoramus

in its unadulterated simplicity.

Ordinary people try to shine;

I alone seem to be dark.

Ordinary people try to be on the alert;

I alone am unobtrusive,

calm as the ocean depths,

buoyant as if anchored nowhere.

Most people have ways and means;

I alone am unsophisticated and simple.

I alone am different from people

in that I value seeking food from the mother.

(#20. TTCC, 20)

Must you value what others value,

avoid what others avoid?

How ridiculous!

(#20. TTCM)

Those on tiptoe don’t stand up,

those who take long strides don’t walk;

those who see themselves are not perceptive,

those who assert themselves are not illustrious;

those who glorify themselves have no merit,

those who are proud of themselves do not last.

On the Way, these are called overconsumption

and excess activity.

Some people disdain them,

so those with the Way abstain.

(#24. TTCC, 23)

Fine weapons are instruments of ill omen:

people may despise them,

so those with the Way do not dwell with them.

Therefore the place of honor for the cultured is on the left,

while the honored place for the martialist is on the right.

Weapon, being instruments of ill omen,

are not the tools of the cultured,

who use them only when unavoidable.

They consider it best to be aloof;

they win without beautifying it.

Those who beautify it

enjoy killing people.

Those who enjoy killing

cannot get their will of the world.

The left is favored for auspicious things,

the right for things of ill omen:

so the subordinate general is on the left,

the top general on the right.

That means when you are in ascendancy of power

you handle it as you would a mourning.

When you have killed many people,

you weep for them in sorrow.

When you win a war, you celebrate by mourning.

(#31. TTCC, 28)

Weapons of war are omens of doom,

To be loathed by every living thing

And shunned by those who keep the Way.

Presiding at court the leader honours the left.

Resorting to war he honours the right.

But weapons are never the leader’s choice.

Weapons of war are omens of doom,

Not to be used unless compelled.

Above all, with mind and heart unstirred,

To arms give no glory:

For to glory in arms

Is to sing and rejoice in the slaughter of men.

And singers in praise of the slaughter of men

Shall not in this world gain their ends.

Thus the left is for deeds that are blessed,

The right is for deeds that bring death.

To the left the minor commander,

To the right the chief general:

Placed for the rites to honour the dead.

When the slaughter is great,

Let the leader come forth to keen for the slain;

The victory won,

To perform solemn rites in mourning the day.

(#31. TTCR, 93)

Weapons are the tools of violence;

all decent men detest them.

Weapons are the tools of fear;

a decent man will avoid them

except in the direst necessity

and, if compelled, will use them

only with the utmost restraint.

Peace is his highest value.

If the peace has been shattered,

how can he be content?

His enemies are not demons,

but human beings like himself.

He doesn’t wish them personal harm.

Nor does he rejoice in victory.

How could he rejoice in victory

and delight in the slaughter of men?

He enters a battle gravely,

with sorrow and with great compassion,

as if he were attending a funeral.

(#31. TTCM)

To what you mean to draw in, first give slack

And make strong what you would weaken;

Raise up whom you would remove,

And provide when you mean to deprive.

That is to do the unseen, unseen.

(#36. TTCR, 101)

When there is no desire,

all things are at peace.

(#37. TTCM)

Higher virtue is not ingratiating;

that is why it has virtue.

Lower virtue does not forget about reward;

that is why it is virtueless.

Higher virtue is uncontrived;

and there is no way to contrive it.

Lower virtue is created,

and there is a way to do it.

Higher humanity is created,

but there is no way to contrive it.

Higher duty is done,

and there is a way to do it.

Higher courtesy is done,

but no one responds to it;

so there is forced repetition.

Therefore virtue comes after the loss of the Way;

humanity comes after the loss of virtue,

duty comes after the loss of humanity,

courtesy comes after the loss of duty.

Manners mean loyalty and trust are thin,

and disarray’s beginning.

Foresight is a flower of the Way,

and the beginning of ignorance too.

Therefore great people dwell in the thick,

not the thin.

They abide in the substance,

not the flower.

So they leave the latter and take the former.

(#38. TTCC, 32)

When the Tao is lost, there is goodness.

When goodness is lost, there is morality.

When morality is lost, there is ritual.

Ritual is the husk of true faith,

the beginning of chaos.

(#38. TTCM)

Therefore people may gain from loss,

and may lose from gain.

(#42. TTCC, 35)

If you look to others for fulfillment,

you will never truly be fulfilled.

(#44. TTCM)

Clear stillness is right for the world.

(#45. TTCC, 36)

When the world has the Way,

running horses are retired to till the fields.

When the world lacks the Way,

war-horses are bred in the countryside.

No crime is greater than approving of greed,

No calamity is greater than discontent,

no fault is greater than possessiveness.

So the satisfaction of contentment is always enough.

(#46. TTCC, 37)

They know the world

without even going out the door.

They see the sky and its pattern

without even looking out the window.

The further out it goes, the less knowledge is;

therefore sages know without going,

name without seeing,

complete without striving.

(#47. TTCC, 37)

No need to venture past the door

To know this world below the skies,

No peer outside the window frame

To see the heaven’s works and ways:

“Distant ventures, meager knowledge.”

For this reason men of wisdom

Know the world not having walked it,

And name it true not having seen it,

And gain success not striving for it.

(#47. TTCR, 126)

To pursue learning, learn more day by day;

To pursue the Way, unlearn it day by day:

Unlearn and then unlearn again

Until there is nothing left to pursue:

No end pursued, no end ungained.

***

Whoever means to win this world below

Never undertakes that task:

Whoever does make that his task

Is not fit to win this world below.

(#48. TTCR, 128)

there is no way for weapons to get at them.

Why? Because they have no dying ground.

(#50. TTCC, 39)

He holds nothing back from life;

therefore he is ready for death,

as a man is ready for sleep

after a good day’s work.

(#50. TTCM)

Favour affects them not,

Nor disfavour,

Neither advantage

Nor injury,

Neither honour

Nor dishonour.

Thus those who know are honoured in the world.

(#56. TTCR, 143)

Act before events occur:

Decision can prevent disorder.

A tree of girth

Grows from a twig.

A nine-tier tower

From a basket of earth;

And a thousand-mile journey

Begins where one stands.

(#64. TTCR, 158)

Be great but do not seem to be.

(#67. TTCR, 165)

No calamity is greater

than underestimating opponents.

(#69. TTCC, 54)

When they lose their sense of awe,

people turn to religion.

When they no longer trust themselves,

they begin to depend upon authority.

(#72. TTCM)

If people usually don’t fear death,

how can death be used to scare them?

If people are made to fear death,

and you catch them and kill them

when they act oddly,

who would dare?

There are always executioners.

And to kill in the place of an executioner

is taking the place

of a master carver.

Those who take the place

of a master carver

rarely avoid cutting their hands.

(#74. TTCC, 56)

If you aren’t afraid of dying,

there is nothing you can’t achieve.

(#74. TTCM)

Worthier far than living royally

Those who live not for themselves.

(#75. TTCR, 179)

Nothing in the world is more flexible

and yielding than water.

Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong,

none can withstand it,

because they have no way to change it.

So the flexible overcomes the adamant,

the yielding overcome the forceful.

Everyone knows this,

but no one can do it.

This is why the sages say

those who can take on the disgrace of nations

are leaders of lands;

and those who can take on the misfortune of nations

are rulers of the world.

True sayings seem paradoxical.

(#78. TTCC, 58)

True words aren’t eloquent;

eloquent words aren’t true.

Wise men don’t need to prove their point;

men who need to prove their point aren’t wise.