Lao Tzu

The softest things in the world override the hardest.

The pursuit of book-learning brings about daily increase. The practice of Tao brings about daily loss.

He who knows others is clever, but he who knows himself is enlightened. He who overcomes others is strong, but he who overcomes himself is mightier still. He is rich who knows when he has enough.

here is nothing in the world more soft and weak than water, yet for attacking things that are hard and strong there is nothing that surpasses it, nothing that can take its place.
The soft overcomes the hard; the weak overcomes the strong.

Why are excessive care and great anxiety alike bad for one? The very reason I have anxiety is because I have a body. If I have not body why would I be anxious?
Therefore if he who administers the empire, esteems it as his own body, then he is worthy to be trusted with the empire.

If you fix upon your consciousness the fact that the desire you feel for the possession of riches is one with the desire of Omnipotence for more complete expression, your faith becomes invincible

The Worthy are those who have Achieved High Rank, and have as a consequence become estranged from the Tao, by involving themselves in worldly affairs. If however they are not publicly rewarded, if they do not receive Honor and Riches, then ordinary folk are not driven by ambition to emulate them and strive for Fame and Glory. Instead they can Return to the Calm of their True Nature. If Rare Goods are not prized in public, then ordinary folk will not be driven by Greed to Acquire them. If the Ruler returns gold to the mountains, casts pearls and precious pieces of jade back into the waters of the Abyss, if the Ruler is pure and uncorrupted, then the common folk will not feel Greed. The Taoist Rules the Nation as if it were Self, emptying Heart-and-Mind of Desire, and the folk Eschew Chaos and Confusion. The Taoist Fills Belly with the Tao, with the One. The Human Heart-and-Mind grows Supple and Soft. The folk no longer Contend

The Marrow grows full,

The Bones firm.

Free from False Knowledge

And Desire,

The folk Return

To Calm,

To Simplicity and Purity.

They find Peace

In Non-Action,

In the Rhythms of Nature

Once False Knowledge and Desire have been extinguished, once the Worthy are no longer honored and Rare Goods are no longer prized, then there is
no Contending, no Theft, but instead there is Order, a full Belly, and firm Bones. When the Multitude see such things as Fame and Wealth lying beyond their grasp, they will strive to Acquire them. When rare and highly prized Objects of Desire are put on show, they will steal in order to lay their hands on them

The Heart-and-Mind,

Free of Desire,

Turns inward

To True Knowledge,

To the Knowledge

That Knows without Knowing.

Then Action is Eschewed,

And all is Accomplished

Through Non-Action,

Through the Pure Breath-Energy

Of the Tao