English
67
"The whole world says, I'm Great; Great, yet unlike [everyone else], But it's precisely because I'm unlike [everyone else], that I'm therefore able to be Great. Were I like [everyone else], for a long time now I'd have seemed insignificant and small. I constantly have three treasures; Hold on to them and treasure them. The first is compassion; The second is frugality; And the third is not presuming to be at the forefront in the world. Now, it's because I'm compassionate that I therefore can be courageous; And it's because I'm frugal that I therefore can be magnamimous; And it's because I don't presume to be at the forefront in the world that I therefore can be the head of those with complete talent. Now, if you abandon this compassion and yet try to be courageous, And if you abandon this frugality and yet try to be magnanimous, And if you abandon this staying behind and yet go to the fore, Then you will die. If with compassion you attack, then you'll win; If you defend, then you'll stand firm. When Heaven's about to establish him, It's as though he surrounds him with the protective wall of compassion."
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Author
Lao TzuBook
Tao Te Ching
Version: 8