Laozi's Dao De Jing 79-81 (老子道德經 79-81)

Author: Laozi (老子); translated by James Legge

Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere. Those who are skilled (in the Tao) do not dispute (about it); the disputatious are not skilled in it. Those who know (the Tao) are not extensively learned; the extensively learned do not know it.

第七十九章

和大怨，必有餘怨﹔報怨以德，安可以為善？是以聖人執左契，而不責于 人。有德司契，無德司徹。天道無親，常與善人。

Chapter 79

1. When a reconciliation is effected (between two parties) after a great animosity, there is sure to be a grudge remaining (in the mind of the one who was wrong). And how can this be beneficial (to the other)?

2. Therefore (to guard against this), the sage keeps the left-hand portion of the record of the engagement, and does not insist on the (speedy) fulfilment of it by the other party. (So), he who has the attributes (of the Tao) regards (only) the conditions of the engagement, while he who has not those attributes regards only the conditions favourable to himself.

3. In the Way of Heaven, there is no partiality of love; it is always on the side of the good man.

第八十章

小國寡民。使有什伯之器而不用﹔使民重死而不遠徙。雖有舟輿，無所乘 之，雖有甲兵，無所陳之。使民復結繩而用之。甘其食，美其服，安其居 ，樂其俗。鄰國相望，雞犬之聲相聞，民至老死，不相往來。

Chapter 80

1. In a little state with a small population, I would so order it, that, though there were individuals with the abilities of ten or a hundred men, there should be no employment of them; I would make the people, while looking on death as a grievous thing, yet not remove elsewhere (to avoid it).

2. Though they had boats and carriages, they should have no occasion to ride in them; though they had buff coats and sharp weapons, they should have no occasion to don or use them.

3. I would make the people return to the use of knotted cords (instead of the written characters).

4. They should think their (coarse) food sweet; their (plain) clothes beautiful; their (poor) dwellings places of rest; and their common (simple) ways sources of enjoyment.

5. There should be a neighbouring state within sight, and the voices of the fowls and dogs should be heard all the way from it to us, but I would make the people to old age, even to death, not have any intercourse with it.

第八十一章

信言不美，美言不信。善者不辯，辯者不善。知者不博，博者不知。聖人 不積，既以為人己愈有，既以與人己愈多。天之道，利而不害﹔聖人之道 ，為而不爭。

Chapter 81

1. Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere. Those who are skilled (in the Tao) do not dispute (about it); the disputatious are not skilled in it. Those who know (the Tao) are not extensively learned; the extensively learned do not know it.

2. The sage does not accumulate (for himself). The more that he expends for others, the more does he possess of his own; the more that he gives to others, the more does he have himself.

3. With all the sharpness of the Way of Heaven, it injures not; with all the doing in the way of the sage he does not strive.