Chapter 2: Verse 1. All in the world know the beauty of
the beautiful, and in doing this they have (the idea of) what ugliness
is; they all know the skill of the skillful, and in doing this they have
(the idea of) what the want of skill is.
Chapter 8: Verse 1. The highest excellence is like (that
of) water. The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things,
and in its occupying, without striving (to the contrary), the low place
which all men dislike. Hence (its way) is near to (that of) the Tao.
Chapter 9: Verse 2. When gold and jade fill the hall, their
possessor cannot keep them safe. When wealth and honours lead to arrogance,
this brings its evil on itself. When the work is done, and one's name
is becoming distinguished, to withdraw into obscurity is the way of Heaven.
Chapter 10: Verse 3. (The Tao) produces (all things) and
nourishes them; it produces them and does not claim them as its own; it
does all, and yet does not boast of it; it presides over all, and yet
does not control them. This is what is called 'The mysterious Quality'
(of the Tao).
Chapter 18: Verse 1. When the Great Tao (Way or Method)
ceased to be observed, benevolence and righteousness came into vogue.
(Then) appeared wisdom and shrewdness, and there ensued great hypocrisy.
Chapter 22: Verse 1. The partial becomes complete; the crooked,
straight; the empty, full; the worn out, new. He whose (desires) are few
gets them; he whose (desires) are many goes astray.
Chapter 24. He who stands on his tiptoes does not stand
firm; he who stretches his legs does not walk (easily). (So), he who displays
himself does not shine; he who asserts his own views is not distinguished;
he who vaunts himself does not find his merit acknowledged; he who is
self-conceited has no superiority allowed to him. Such conditions, viewed
from the standpoint of the Tao, are like remnants of food, or a tumour
on the body, which all dislike. Hence those who pursue (the course) of
the Tao do not adopt and allow them.
Chapter 29: Verse 1. If any one should wish to get the kingdom
for himself, and to effect this by what he does, I see that he will not
succeed. The kingdom is a spirit-like thing, and cannot be got by active
doing. He who would so win it destroys it; he who would hold it in his
grasp loses it.
Chapter 42: Verse 1. The Tao produced One; One produced
Two; Two produced Three; Three produced All things. All things leave behind
them the Obscurity (out of which they have come), and go forward to embrace
the Brightness (into which they have emerged), while they are harmonised
by the Breath of Vacancy.
Chapter 43: Verse 1. The softest thing in the world dashes
against and overcomes the hardest; that which has no (substantial) existence
enters where there is no crevice. I know hereby what advantage belongs
to doing nothing (with a purpose).
Chapter 47: Verse 1. Without going outside his door, one
understands (all that takes place) under the sky; without looking out
from his window, one sees the Tao of Heaven. The farther that one goes
out (from himself), the less he knows. [Note: This verse is paraphrased
in the Beatles song "The Inner Light"]
Chapter 49: Verse 1. The sage has no invariable mind of
his own; he makes the mind of the people his mind.
49:2. To those who are good (to me), I am good; and to those
who are not good (to me), I am also good;—and thus (all) get to be
good. To those who are sincere (with me), I am sincere; and to those who
are not sincere (with me), I am also sincere;—and thus (all) get
to be sincere.
Chapter 55: Verse 4. When things have become strong, they
(then) become old, which may be said to be contrary to the Tao. Whatever
is contrary to the Tao soon ends.
Chapter 64: Verse 4. The sage desires what (other men) do
not desire, and does not prize things difficult to get; he learns what
(other men) do not learn, and turns back to what the multitude of men
have passed by. Thus he helps the natural development of all things, and
does not dare to act (with an ulterior purpose of his own).
Chapter 76: Verse 1. Man at his birth is supple and weak;
at his death, firm and strong. (So it is with) all things. Trees and plants,
in their early growth, are soft and brittle; at their death, dry and withered.
76:2. Thus it is that firmness and strength are the concomitants
of death; softness and weakness, the concomitants of life.
76:3. Hence he who (relies on) the strength of his forces
does not conquer; and a tree which is strong will fill the out-stretched
arms, (and thereby invites the feller.)
76:4. Therefore the place of what is firm and strong is
below, and that of what is soft and weak is above.
Chapter 78: Verse 4. Words that are strictly true seem to
be paradoxical.
Chapter 81: Verse 3. [end verse] With all the sharpness
of the Way of Heaven, it injures not; with all the doing in the way of
the sage he does not strive.