LXXVI. Beware of Strength

Laotzu's Tao and Wu Wei, by Dwight Goddard and Henri Borel, [1919], at sacred-texts.com

LXXVI

BEWARE OF STRENGTH

When a man is living he is tender and fragile. When he dies he is hard and stiff. It is the same with everything, the grass and trees, in life, are tender and delicate, but when they die they become rigid and dry.

p. 50

Therefore those who are hard and stiff belong to death's domain, while the tender and weak belong to the realm of life.

Therefore soldiers are most invincible when they will not conquer. When a tree is grown to its greatest strength it is doomed. The strong and the great stay below; the tender and weak rise above.