English
58
"If the government is muffled and subdued, the people will be simple and sincere. If the government is strict and exacting, the people will be lax and indifferent. Good fortune depends on bad fortune, bad fortune lurks behind good fortune. Who know where this process will end? If there is no orthodoxy, the orthodox will return to the unorthodox. Good becomes perverse. Mankind's state of confusion has continued for a long time. That is why the Sage squares up but doesn't cut, is sharp but not injurious, is straightforward but not unrestrained, and is bright but doesn't dazzle."
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Author
Lao TzuBook
Tao Te Ching
Version: 11