The Tao that can be described is not the Tao.
		(The Tao Te Ching, 1)
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There was Something undefined and yet complete in itself,
Born before Heaven-and-Earth.
Silent and boundless,
Standing along without change,
Yet pervading all without fail,
It may be regarded as the Mother of the world.
I do not know its name;
I style it "Tao";
And, in the absence of a better word, call it "The Great." ...
Man follows the ways of the Earth.
The Earth follows the ways of Heaven,
Heaven follows the ways of Tao,
Tao follows its own ways. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 25)
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Music and dainty dishes can only make a passing guest pause.
But the words of Tao possess lasting effects,
Though they are mild and flavourless,
Though they appeal neither to the eye nor to the ear. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 35)
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We make doors and windows for a room;
But it is these empty spaces that make the room livable.
Thus, while the tangible has advantages,
It is the intangible that makes it useful. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 11)
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It is just because [Tao] does not wish to be great
That its greatness is fully realized. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 34)
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When a wise scholar hears the Tao,
He practises it diligently.
When a mediocre scholar hears the Tao,
He wavers between belief and unbelief.
When a worthless scholar hears the Tao,
He laughs boisterously at it.
But if such a one does not laugh at it,
The Tao would not be the Tao! 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 41)
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Indeed, Truth sounds like its opposite! 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 78)
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Hesitant like one wading a stream in winter;
Timid like one afraid of his neighbours on all sides;
Cautious and courteous like a guest;
Yielding like ice on the point of melting;
Simple like an uncarved block;
Hollow like a cave;
Confused like a muddy pool;
And yet who else could quietly and gradually evolve from the muddy to the clear?
Who else could slowly but steadily move from the inert to the living?
He who keeps the Tao does not want to be full.
But precisely because he is never full,
He can always remain like a hidden sprout,
And does not rush to early ripening. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 15)
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[The Sage] does not make a show of himself,
Hence he shines;
Does not justify himself,
Hence he becomes known;
Does not boast of his ability,
Hence he gets credit;
Does not brandish his success,
Hence he endures;
Does not compete with anyone,
Hence no one can compete with him. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 22)
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All the people strain their ears and eyes:
The Sage only smiles like an amused infant. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 49)
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Learning consists of daily accumulating;
The practice of Tao consists in daily diminishing. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 48)
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To be frugal is to return before straying. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 59)
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The world is a sacred vessel, which must not be tampered with or grabbed after.
To tamper with it is to spoil it, and to grasp it is to lose it.
In fact, for all things there is a time for going ahead, and a time for following be-
hind;
A time for slow-breathing and a time for fast-breathing;
A time to grow in strength and a time to decay;
A time to be up and a time to be down.
Therefore, the Sage avoids all extremes, excesses and extravagances. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 29)
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Tackle things before they have appeared.
Cultivate peace and order before confusion and disorder have set in. ...
[The Sage] only helps all creatures to find their own nature,
But does not venture to lead them by the nose. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 64)
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To hasten the growth of life is ominous.
To control the breath by the will is to overstrain it. ...
All this is against Tao,
And whatever is against Tao soon ceases to be. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 55)
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It is Heaven's Way to conquer without striving,
To get responses without speaking,
To induce the people to come without summoning,
To act according to plans without haste. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 73)
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Wherever armies are stationed, thorny bushes grow.
After a great war, bad years invariably follow. ...
You must never think of conquering others by force. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 30)
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Now, ceremony is the merest husk of faith and loyalty;
It is the beginning of all confusion and disorder. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 38)
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[Primal Simplicity] alone can curb the desires of men,
When the desires of men are curbed, there will be peace,
And the world will settle down of its own accord. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 37)
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For flourishing as [things] do,
Each of them will return to its root.
To return to the root is to find peace.
To find peace is to fulfill one's destiny. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 16)
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An excessive love for anything will cost you dear in the end.
The storing up of too many goods will entail a heavy loss. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 44)
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Block all the passages!
Shut all the doors!
And to the end of your days you will not be worn out.
Open the passages!
Multiply your activities!
And to the end of your days you will remain helpless. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 52)
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When intelligence and wit arose,
There appeared great hypocrites. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 18)
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Drop wisdom, abandon cleverness,
And the people will be benefited a hundredfold. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 19)
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To realize that our knowledge is ignorance,
This is a noble insight. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 71)
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The wise are not erudite,
The erudite are not wise. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 81)
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Truly, humility is the root from which greatness springs. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 39)
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The farther you go,
The less you know.
The Sage knows without travelling,
Sees without looking,
And achieves without Ado. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 47)
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Here is the Way of Heaven:
When you have done your work, retire! 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 9)
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Enlightened and seeing far into all directions,
Can you at the same time remain detached and non-active?
Rear your people!
Feed your people!
Rear them without claiming them for your own! 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 10)
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The highest type of ruler is one of whose existence the people are barely aware.
		(The Tao Te Ching, 17)
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Why are the people hard to manage?
Because those above them are fussy and have private ends to serve.
That is why they are hard to manage. 
		(The Tao Te Ching, 75)
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