“Thus it is said:The path into the light seems dark,the path forward seems to go back,the direct path seems long,true power seems weak,true purity seems tarnished,true steadfastness seems changeable,true clarity seems obscure,the greatest are seems unsophisticated,the greatest love seems indifferent,the greatest wisdom seems childish.The Tao is nowhere to be found.Yet it nourishes and completes all things.”

“Thus it is said:The path into light seems dark,the path forward seems to go back,the direct path seems long,true power seems weak...the greatest love seems indifferent,the greatest wisdom seems childish.”

“The path into the light seems dark, the path forward seems to go back, the direct path seems long.”

“True perfection seems imperfect,yet it is perfectly itself.True fullness seems empty,yet it is fully present.True straightness seems crooked.True wisdom seems foolish.True art seems artless.”

“The multitude of men look satisfied and pleased; as if enjoying a full banquet, as if mounted on a tower in spring. I alone seem listless and still, my desires having as yet given no indication of their presence. I am like an infant which has not yet smiled. I look dejected and forlorn, as if I had no home to go to. The multitude of men all have enough and to spare. I alone seem to have lost everything. My mind is that of a stupid man; I am in a state of chaos.Ordinary men look bright and intelligent, while I alone seem to be benighted. They look full of discrimination, while I alone am dull and confused. I seem to be carried about as on the sea, drifting as if I had nowhere to rest. All men have their spheres of action, while I alone seem dull and incapable, like a rude borderer.(Thus) I alone am different from other men, but I value the nursing-mother (the Tao).”

“It is through their not being full of themselves that they can afford to seem worn and not appear new and complete.”

“In the jungle of ideas, it is hard to find the true direction! The paths of the wrong ideas often seem to be very alluring!”