English
64
"What remains still is easy to hold. What is not yet manifest is easy to plan for. What is brittle is easy to crack. What is minute is easy to scatter. Deal with things before they appear. Put things in order before disorder arises. A tree as big as a man's embrace grows from a tiny shoot. A tower of nine stories begins with a heap of earth. The journey of a thousand li starts from where one stands. He who takes action fails. He who grasps things loses them. For this reason the sage takes no action and therefore does not fail. He grasps nothing and therefore does not lose anything; A sane man is sane in knowing what things he can spare, In not wishing what most people wish, In not reaching for things that seem rare. Therefore the sage desires to have no desire, He does not value rare treasures. He learns to be unlearned, and returns to what the multitude has missed (Tao). Thus he supports all things in their natural state but does not take any action."
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Lao TzuBook
The Way of Lao Tzu - Tao Te Ching
Version: 1