41.1 Men of stamina, knowing the way of life, Steadily keep to it; Unstable men, knowing the way of life, Keep to it or not according to occasion;
41.2 Stupid men, knowing the way of life And having once laughed at it, laugh again the louder. If you need to be sure which way is right, you can tell by their laughing at it.
41.3 They fling the old charges: 'A wick without oil,' 'For every step forward a step or two back,' To such laughers a level road looks steep, Top seems bottom,
41.4 'White appears black,' 'Enough is a lack,' Endurance is a weakness, Simplicity a faded flower.
41.5 But eternity is his who goes straight round the circle, Foundation is his who can feel beyond touch, Harmony is his who can hear beyond sound, Pattern is his who can see beyond shape: Life is his who can tell beyond words Fulfilment of the unfulfilled.

42.1 Life, when it came to be, Bore one, then two, then three Elements of things; And thus the three began - Heaven and earth and man - To balance happenings:
42.2 Cool night behind, warm day ahead, For the living, for the dead.
42.3 Though a commoner be loth to say That he is only common clay, Kings and princes often state How humbly they are leading,
42.4 Because in true succeeding High and low correlate.
42.5 It is an ancient thought, Which men have taught, That he who over-reaches And tries to live by force Shall die thereby of course, And is what my own heart teaches.

43.1 As the soft yield of water cleaves obstinate stone, So to yield with life solves the insoluble: To yield, I have learned, is to come back again.
43.2 but this unworded lesson, This easy example, Is lost upon men.

44.1 Which means more to you, You or your renown? Which brings more to you, You or what you own? And which would cost you more If it were gone?
44.2 The niggard pays, The miser loses.
44.3 The least ashamed of all men Goes back if he chooses: He knows both ways, He starts again.

45.1 A man's work, however finished it seem, Continue as long as he live; A man, however perfect he seem, Is needed as long as he live: As long as truth appears falsity, The seer a fool, The prophet a dumb lout,
45.2 -
45.3 If you want to keep warm keep stirring about, Keep still if you want to keep cool, And in all the world one day no doubt Your way shall be the rule.

46.1 In a land where the way of life is understood Race-horses are led back to serve the field; In a land where the way of life is not understood War-horses are bred on the autumn yield.
46.2 Owning is the entanglement, Wanting is the bewilderment, Taking is the presentiment:
46.3 Only he who contains content Remains content.

47.1 There is no need to run outside For better seeing, Nor to peer from a window. Rather abide At the center of your being; For the more you leave, the less you learn.
47.2 Search your heart and see If he is wise who takes each turn: The way to do is to be.

48.1 A man anxious for knowledge adds more to himself every minute; A man acquiring life loses himself in it, Has less and less to bear in mind, Less and less to do,
48.2 Because life, he finds, is well inclined, Including himself too. Often a man sways the world like a wind But not by deed;
48.3 And if there appear to you to be need Of motion to sway it, it has left you behind.

49.1 A sound man's heart is not shut within itself But is open to other people's hearts:
49.2 I find good people good, And I find bad people good If I am good enough
49.3 I trust men of their word And I trust liars If I am true enough;
49.4 I feel the heart-beats of others Above my own If I am enough of a father, Enough of a son.

50.1 Death might appear to be the issue of life,
50.2 Since for every three out of ten being born Three out of ten are dying. They why Should another three out of ten continue breeding death? Because of sheer madness to multiply.
50.3 But there is one out of ten, so sure of life That tiger and wild bull keep clear of his inland path, Weapons turn from him on the battle-field,
50.4 No bull-horn could tell where to gore him, No tiger-claw where to tear him, No weapon where to enter him And why? Because he has no death to die.

51.1 Existence having born them And fitness bred them, While matter varied their forms And breath empowered them, All created things render, to the existence and fitness they depend on, An obedience
51.2 Not commanded but of course. And since this is the way existence bears issue And fitness raises, attends, Shelters, feeds and protects, Do you likewise:
51.3 Be parent, not possessor, Attendant, not master, Be concerned not with obedience but with benefit, And you are at the core of living.

52.1 The source of life Is as a mother.
52.2 Be fond of both mother and children but know the mother dearer And you outlive death.
52.3 Curb your tongue and senses And you are beyond trouble,
52.4 Let them loose And you are beyond help.
52.5 Discover that nothing is too small for clear vision, Too insignificant for tender strength,
52.6 Use outlook And insight, Use them both And you are immune: For you have witnessed eternity.

53.1 If I had any learning Of a highway wide and fit, Would I lose it at each turning?
53.2 Yet look at people spurning Natural use of it!
53.3 See how fine the palaces And see how poor the farms, How bare the peasants' granaries
53.4 While gentry wear embroideries Hiding sharpened arms, And the more they have the more they seize, How can there be such men as these Who never hunger, never thirst Yet eat and drink until they burst! There are other brigands, but these are the worst Of all the highway's harms.

54.1 'Since true foundation cannot fail But holds as good as new, Many a worshipful son shall hail A father who lived true.'
54.2 Realized in one man, fitness has its rise; Realized in a family, fitness multiplies; Realized in a village, fitness gathers weight; Realized in a country, fitness becomes great; Realized in the world, fitness fills the skies.
54.3 And thus the fitness of one man You find in the family he began, You find in the village that accrued, You find in the country that ensued, You find in the world's whole multitude.
54.4 How do I know this integrity? Because it could all begin in me.

55.1 He whom life fulfills, Though he remains a child, Is immune to the poisonous sting Of insects, to the ravening Of wild beasts or to vultures' bills. He needs no more bone or muscle than a baby's for sure hold.
55.2 Without thought of joined organs, he is gender Which grows firm, unfaltering.
55.3 Though his voice should cry out at full pitch all day, it would not rasp but would stay tender Through the perfect balancing Of a man at endless ease with everything Because of the true life he has led.
55.4 To try for more than this bodes ill. It is said, ' there's a way where there's a will;'
55.5 But let life ripen and then fall. Will is not the way at all: Deny the way of life and you are dead.

56.1 Those who know do not tell, Those who tell do not know.
56.2 Not to set the tongue loose But to curb it, Not to have edges that catch But to remain untangled, Unblinded, Unconfused, Is to find balance,
56.3 And he who holds balance beyond sway of love or hate, Beyond reach of profit or loss, Beyond care of praise or blame, Has attained the highest post in the world.

57.1 A realm is governed by ordinary acts, A battle is governed by extraordinary acts; The world is governed by no acts at all. And how do I know? This is how I know.
57.2 Act after act prohibits Everything but poverty, Weapon after weapon conquers Everything but chaos,
57.3 Business after business provides A craze of waste, Law after law breeds A multitude of thieves.
57.4 Therefore a sensible man says: If I keep from meddling with people, they take care of themselves, If I keep from commanding people, they behave themselves,
57.5 If I keep from preaching at people, they improve themselves, If I keep from imposing on people, they become themselves.

58.1 The less a leader does and says The happier his people, The more a leader struts and brags The sorrier his people.
58.2 Often what appears to be unhappiness is happiness And what appears to be happiness is unhappiness.
58.3 Who can see what leads to What When happiness appears and yet is not, When what should be is nothing but a mask Disguising what should not be? Who can but ask An end to such a stupid plot!
58.4 Therefore a sound man shall so square the circle And circle the square as not to injure, not to impede: The glow of his life shall not daze, It shall lead.

59.1 To lead men and serve heaven, weigh the worth Of the one source:
59.2 Use the single force Which doubles the strength of the strong By enabling man to go right, disabling him to go wrong, Be so charged with the nature of life that you give your people birth,
59.3 That you mother your land, are the fit
59.4 And ever living root of it: The seeing root, whose eye is infinite.

60.1 Handle a large kingdom with as gentle a touch as if you were cooking a small fish.
60.2 If you manage people by letting them alone, Ghosts of the dead shall not haunt you.
60.3 Not that there are no ghosts But that their influence become propitious
60.4 In the sound existence of a living man: There is no difference between the quick and the dead, They are one channel of vitality.

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