道德經第三十六章

Dao De Jing Chapter 36 ― Charles  A. Muller 36. That which will be shrunk...

That which will be shrunk

Must first be stretched.

That which will be weakened

Must first be strengthened.

That which will be torn down

Must first be raised up.

That which will be taken

Must first be given.

This is called "subtle illumination."

The gentle and soft overcomes the hard and aggressive.

A fish cannot leave the water.

The country's potent weapons

Should not be shown to its people.

將欲歙之，必固張之；將欲弱之，必固強之；將欲廢之，必固興之；將欲奪之，必固與之。是謂微明。柔弱勝剛強。魚不可脫於淵，國之利器不可以示人。

Dao De Jing Chapter 36 ― James Legge (Minimising the light)

When one is about to take inspiration, he is sure to make a (previous) expiration; when he is going to weaken another, he will first strengthen him; when he is going to overthrow another, he will first have raised him up; when he is going to despoil another, he will first have made gifts to him: ― this is called 'Hiding the light (of his procedure).'

The soft overcomes the hard, and the weak the strong.

Fishes should not be taken from the deep; instruments for the profit of a state should not be shown to the people.

Dao De Jing Chapter 36 ― Arthur Waley

What is, in the end, to be shrunk

Must first be stretched.

Whatever is to be weakened

Must begin by being made strong.

What is to be overthrown

Must begin by being set up.

He who would be a taker

Must begin as a giver.

This is called “dimming” one's light.

It is thus that the soft overcomes the hard

And the weak, the strong.

“It is best to leave the fish down in his pool;

Best to leave the State's sharpest weapons where none can see them.”

Mindful of Little Things

It’s easy to keep hold of what hasn’t stirred,

easy to plan what hasn’t occurred.

It’s easy to shatter delicate things,

easy to scatter little things.

Do things before they happen.

Get them straight before they get mixed up.

The tree you can’t reach your arms around

grew from a tiny seedling.

The nine-story tower rises

from a heap of clay.

The ten-thousand-mile journey

begins beneath your foot.

Do, and do wrong;

Hold on, and lose.

Not doing, the wise soul

doesn’t do it wrong,

and not holding on,

doesn’t lose it.

(In all their undertakings,

it’s just as they’re almost finished

that people go wrong.

Mind the end as the beginning,

then it won’t go wrong.)

That’s why the wise

want not to want,

care nothing for hard-won treasures,

learn not to be learned,

turn back to what people overlooked.

They go along with things as they are,

but don’t presume to act.

老子，Lǎozi, translated by Ursula LeGuin