2. Abstraction 3. Without Action
16. Decay and Renewal 17. Rulers
24. Indulgence 25. Beneath Abstraction
36. Opposition 37. Tranquillity
40. Motion and Use 41. Following
52. Clarity 53. Difficult Paths
54. Cultivate Harmony 55. Soft Bones
56. Impartiality 57. Conquer with Inaction
57. Conquer with Inaction 58. No End
63. Difficulty 64a. Care at the Beginning
64b. Care at the End 65. Subtlety
66. Lead by Following 67. Unimportance
70. Individuality 71. Limitation
Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water,
Yet nothing can better overcome the hard and strong,
For they can neither control nor do away with it.
The soft overcomes the hard,
The yielding overcomes the strong;
Every person knows this,
But no one can practice it.
Who attends to the people would control the land and grain;
Who attends to the state would control the whole world;
Truth is easily hidden by rhetoric.