Tao Te Ching

Te (Virtue / Power)Chapters 38–81

1. 38Superior virtue is not "virtuous," and so it has virtue.
2. 39Of old, these attained the One:
3. 40Returning is the movement of the Tao.
4. 41When the best student hears of the Tao, he practices it diligently.
5. 42The Tao gives birth to one;
6. 43The softest thing in the world
7. 44Fame or your self: which is dearer?
8. 45Great perfection seems flawed, yet its use never fails.
9. 46When the world has the Tao, war horses are sent back to haul manure.
10. 47Without going out the door, you can know the world.
11. 48In pursuit of learning, every day something is added.
12. 49The sage has no fixed mind of his own;
13. 50Going out is life; coming in is death.
14. 51The Tao gives birth to things; virtue nurtures them;
15. 52The world had a beginning, which is the mother of the world.
16. 53If I had even a little knowledge,
17. 54What is well planted cannot be uprooted;
18. 55One who holds virtue in fullness is like a newborn child.
19. 56Those who know do not speak;
20. 57Govern the state with integrity; use the army with surprise;
21. 58When government is dull and quiet, the people are simple and honest.
22. 59In governing people and serving heaven, nothing is better than restraint.
23. 60Govern a great state as you would cook a small fish.
24. 61A great state is like the lower reaches of a river,
25. 62The Tao is the sanctuary of all things,
26. 63Act without forcing; work without meddling;
27. 64What is at rest is easy to hold;
28. 65The ancients who practiced the Tao
29. 66Rivers and seas can be kings of the hundred valleys
30. 67Everyone says my Tao is great but seems unlike anything.
31. 68A good warrior is not warlike;
32. 69Military strategists have a saying:
33. 70My words are very easy to understand and very easy to practice,
34. 71Knowing that you don't know is best.
35. 72When people no longer fear authority,
36. 73Courage in daring leads to death;
37. 74If the people do not fear death,
38. 75The people starve
39. 76At birth people are soft and supple;
40. 77The Way of heaven is like stringing a bow:
41. 78Nothing in the world is softer and weaker than water,
42. 79After a great resentment is settled,
43. 80Let the state be small and the people few.
44. 81True words are not beautiful;