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"Rule the state with rectitude. Direct the army with trickery. Capture the world through inactivity.* How can I know it shall be so? By this: When the world is full of taboos and prohibitions, The people will become very poor. When the people possess many sharp weapons, The nation will become more chaotic.** When the people possess much craftiness, Trickery will flourish.*3* When law and order become more conspicuous, There will be more robbers and thieves.*4* Therefore the Sage says: I do not act and the people reform themselves; I love serenity and the people rectify themselves; I employ inactivity and the people become prosperous themselves; I have no desires and the people become simple by themselves.*5*"