A warning against rigidity

"At the birth of man, he is elastic and weak; at his death, rigid and unyielding. This is the common law; trees also, in their youth, are tender and supple; in their decay, hard and dry. So then rigidity and hardness are the stigmata of death; elasticity and adaptability, of life. He then who putteth forth strength is not victorious; even as a strong tree filleth the embrace. Thus the hard and rigid have the inferior place, the soft and elastic the superior."