out their own reformation. If, having reformed, they still desired to act, I would have them restrained by the simplicity of the Nameless Tao. The simplicity of the Nameless Tao brings about an absence of desire. The absence of desire gives tranquillity. And thus the Empire will rectify itself.
The softest things in the world override the hardest. That which has no substance enters where there is no crevice. Hence I know the advantage of inaction.
Conveying lessons without words, reaping profit without action,—there are few in the world who can attain to this!
Activity conquers cold, but stillness conquers heat. Purity and stillness are the correct principles for mankind.
Without going out of doors one may know the whole world; without looking out of the window, one may see the Way of Heaven. The further one travels, the less one may know. Thus it is that without moving you shall know; without looking you shall see; without doing you shall achieve.
The pursuit of book-learning brings about daily increase. The practice of Tao brings about daily loss. Repeat this loss again and again, and you arrive at inaction. Practise inaction, and there is nothing which cannot be done.
The Empire has ever been won by letting things take their course. He who must always be doing is unfit to obtain the Empire.
Keep the mouth shut, close the gateways of sense, and as long as you live you will have no trouble. Open your lips and push your affairs,
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