“The sage puts herself last and is first.”

“Therefore the sage puts his own person last, and yet it is found in the foremost place; he treats his person as if it were foreign to him, and yet that person is preserved.”

“Hence the sage puts away excessive effort, extravagance, and easy indulgence.”

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

“Therefore the sage seeks to satisfy (the craving of) the belly, and not the (insatiable longing of the) eyes.”

“Therefore the sage holds in his embrace the one thing (of humility), and manifests it to all the world.”

“The sage has in the world an appearance of indecision, and keeps his mind in a state of indifference to all.”