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"Nothing under heaven Is softer (jou) and weaker (jo) than water, Yet nothing can compare with it In attacking the hard (chien) and strong (ch'iang). Nothing can change (i) place with it. That the weak overcomes the strong, And the soft overcomes the hard, No one under heaven does not know (chih), Though none can put it into practice. Therefore a sage said: "One who receives the filth of a state, Is called the Master of the Altar of the Soil and Grain; One who shoulders the evils of a state, Becomes the king under heaven." Straightforward words (yen) appear to be their reverse."