“If we could renounce our sageness and discard our wisdom, it would be better for the people a hundredfold.”

“If we could renounce our benevolence and discard our righteousness, the people would again become filial and kindly.”

“If we could renounce our artful contrivances and discard our (scheming for) gain, there would be no thieves nor robbers.”

“The Tao is (like) the emptiness of a vessel; and in our employment of it we must be on our guard against all fulness.”

“We should blunt our sharp points, and unravel the complications of things; we should attemper our brightness, and bring ourselves into agreement with the obscurity of others.”

“The sage puts herself last and is first.”

“The sage shuns excess, shuns grandiosity, shuns arrogance.”