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38

"He with the highest virtue Does not display his virtue And so has virtue. He with the lowest virtue Does not let go of virtue And so has no virtue. He with the highest virtue does not act And nothing is left undone.* He with the lowest virtue acts And has intent to act. He with the highest human-heartedness acts And has no intent to act. He with the highest righteousness acts And has intent to act. He with the highest propriety acts And if there is no response, Bares his arms to apply force. Therefore, when Tao is lost, virtue appears. When virtue is lost, human-heartedness appears. When human-heartedness is lost, righteousness appears. When righteousness is lost, propriety appears. Propriety is the thinness of loyalty and honesty, And the beginning of disorder; Foreknowledge is the ornament of Tao, And the beginning of ignorance. Therefore, great gentlemen stay in the thick, and not in the thin. They stay with the substance, and not with the ornament. So they reject that to prefer this.**"

Author

Lao Tzu

All Translations

English

"He with the highest virtue Does not display his virtue And so has virtue. He with the lowest virtue Does not let go of virtue And so has no virtue. He with the highest virtue does not act And nothing is left undone.* He with the lowest virtue acts And has intent to act. He with the highest human-heartedness acts And has no intent to act. He with the highest righteousness acts And has intent to act. He with the highest propriety acts And if there is no response, Bares his arms to apply force. Therefore, when Tao is lost, virtue appears. When virtue is lost, human-heartedness appears. When human-heartedness is lost, righteousness appears. When righteousness is lost, propriety appears. Propriety is the thinness of loyalty and honesty, And the beginning of disorder; Foreknowledge is the ornament of Tao, And the beginning of ignorance. Therefore, great gentlemen stay in the thick, and not in the thin. They stay with the substance, and not with the ornament. So they reject that to prefer this.**"

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