“The soft overcomes the hard; and the weak the strong.”

“Тhe gentle overcomes the rigid.The slow overcomes the fast.The weak overcomes the strong."…"Everyone knows that the yielding overcomes the stiff,and the soft overcomes the hard.Yet no one applies this knowledge.”

“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.”

“Therefore the place of what is firm and strong is below, and that of what is soft and weak is above.”

“He who overcomes others is strong;”

“There is nothing in the world more soft and weak than water, and yet for attacking things that are firm and strong there is nothing that can take precedence of it;—for there is nothing (so effectual) for which it can be changed.”

“A man is born gentle and weak; at his death he is hard and stiff. All things, including the grass and trees, are soft and pliable in life; dry and brittle in death. Stiffness is thus a companion of death; flexibility a companion of life. An army that cannot yield will be defeated. A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind. The hard and stiff will be broken; the soft and supple will prevail.”