---
title: <cite class="book">Tao Te Ching</cite>
subtitle: trans. Lau Din Cheuk
author: Ben
type: quotes
date: 2020-07-11T11:09:17+00:00
url: /quotes/tao-te-ching/
categories:
  - Uncategorised

---
> It is because it lays no claim to merit  
> That its merit never deserts it.<footer>Book One, II</footer> 

> Therefore the sage puts his person last and it comes first,  
> Treats it as extraneous to himself and it is preserved.<footer>Book One, VII</footer> 

> Therefore in governing the people, the sage empties their minds but fills their bellies, weakens their wills but strengthens their bones. He always keeps them innocent of knowledge and free from desire, and ensures that the clever never dare to act.<footer>Book One, III</footer> 

> Let your wheels move only along old ruts.<footer>Book One, IV</footer> 

> Woe to him to wilfully innovates  
> While ignorant of the constant,<footer>Book One, XVI</footer> 

> Exterminate the sage, discard the wise,  
> And the people will benefit a hundredfold;  
> Exterminate benevolence, discard rectitude,  
> And the people will again be filial;  
> Exterminate ingenuity, discard profit,  
> And there will be no more thieves and bandits.<footer>Book One, XIX</footer> 

> Hence the good man is the teacher the bad learns from;  
> And the bad man is the material the good works on.  
> Not to value the teacher  
> Nor to love the material  
> Though it seems clever, betrays great bewilderment.<footer>Book One, XXVII</footer> 

> The gentleman gives precedence to the left when at home, but to the right when he goes to war. Arms are instruments of ill omen, not the instruments of the gentleman. When one is compelled to use them, it is best to do so without relish. There is no glory in victory, and to glorify it despite this is to exult in the killing of men.<footer>Book One, XXXI</footer> 

> The way is for ever nameless.  
> Though the uncarved block is small  
> No one in the world dare claim its allegiance.  
> Should lords and princes be able to hold fast to it  
> The myriad creatures will submit of their own accord,  
> Heaven and earth will unite and sweet dew will fall,  
> And the people will be equitable, though no one so decrees.<footer>Book One, XXXII</footer> 

> The court is corrupt,  
> The fields are overgrown with weeds,  
> The granaries are empty;  
> Yet there are those dressed in fineries,  
> With swords at their sides,  
> Filled with food and drink,  
> And possessed of too much wealth.  
> This is known as taking the lead in robbery.  
> Far indeed is this from the way.<footer>Book Two, LIII</footer> 

Book Two, LVII &#8211; small state, armed populace, night watchman

> To know yet to think that one does not know is best;  
> Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty.  
> It is by being alive to difficulty that one can avoid it.  
> The sage meets with no difficulty. It is because he is alive to it that he meets with no difficulty.<footer>Book Two, LXXI</footer> 

> The people are hungry:  
> It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes  
> That the people are hungry.  
> The people are difficult to govern:  
> It is because those in authority are too fond of action  
> That the people are difficult to govern.<footer>Book Two, LXXV</footer> 

> It is the way of heaven to take from what has in excess in order to make good what is deficient. The way of man is otherwise. It takes from those who are in want in order to offer this to those who already have more than enough. Who is there that can take what he himself has in excess and offer this to the empire? Only he who has the way.<footer>Book Two, LXXVII</footer>
