“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.”

“Therefore he who would administer the kingdom, honouring it as he honours his own person, may be employed to govern it, and he who would administer it with the love which he bears to his own person may be entrusted with it.”

“The person of superior integrity does not insist upon his integrity.For this reason, he has integrity.The person of inferior integritynever loses sight of his integrity;For this reason, he lacks integrity.”

“The flexible are preserved unbroken. The bent become straight. The empty are filled. The exhausted become renewed. The poor are enriched. The rich are confounded. Therefore the sage embraces the one. Because he doesn't display himself, people can see his light. Because he has nothing to prove, people can trust his words. Because he doesn't know who he is, people recognize themselves in him. Because he has no goal in mind, everything he does succeeds. The old saying that the flexible are preserved unbroken is surely right! If you have truely attained wholeness, everything will flock to you.”

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

“The sage puts herself last and is first.”

“Therefore the sage manages affairs without doing anything, and conveys his instructions without the use of speech.”