Tao Te Ching

The Way that can be told of is not an unvarying Way; The names that can be named are not […]

It is because every one under Heaven recognizes beauty as beauty, That the idea of ugliness exists. And equally if

If we stop looking for “persons of superior morality” (hsien) to put in power, There will be no more jealousies

The Way is like an empty vessel That yet may be drawn from Without ever needing to be filled. It

Heaven and Earth are ruthless; To them the Ten Thousand things are but as straw dogs. The Sage too is

The Valley Spirit never dies. It is named the Mysterious Female. And the doorway of the Mysterious Female Is the

Heaven is eternal, the Earth everlasting. How come they to be so? It is because they do not foster their

The highest good is like that of water. The goodness of is that it benefits the ten thousand creatures; Yet

Stretch a bow to the very full, And you will wish you had stopped in time; Temper a sword-edge to