"Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy."

"Fill your bowls to the brim and they will spill. Sharpen your blade to the sharpest and it will soon blunt."

"Simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures."

"The sage is sharp but not cutting, pointed but not piercing, straightforward but not unrestrained, brilliant but not dazzling."

"When the government is lax, the people are simple. When the government is meddlesome, the people are discontented."