A truly
good person doesn’t
dwell on her goodness.
Thus she can be good. A person
of false goodness never forgets
her goodness. Thus her
goodness is always
false.
A truly
good person does
nothing, yet nothing remains
undone. A person of false goodness
is forever doing, yet everything
remains forever
undone.
Those who
are interested in service
act without motive. Those who are
interested in righteousness act with motives
of all sorts. Those who are interested in
propriety act, and receiving no
response, they roll up their
sleeves and use
force.
When Tao
is lost, goodness appears.
When goodness is lost, philanthropy appears.
When philanthropy is lost, justice appears.
When justice is lost, only
etiquette is left.
Etiquette
is the faintest husk
of real loyalty and faith, and it
is the beginning of confusion. Knowledge
of the future is only a blossom of Tao;
to become preoccupied
with it is folly.
Thus the sage
sets her sights on the substance
and not the surface, on the fruit and not
the flower. Leaving the one,
she gains the other.
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