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.
Founder of Taoism
Attributed, a common interpretation of Chapter 78 of the Tao Te Ching
c. 6th-4th century BCE
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"Govern a state by justice, wage war by surprise, and take the world by doing nothing."
Shocking"The sage is sharp but does not cut, pointed but does not pierce, forthright but does not offend, bright but does not dazzle."
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Shocking