We're only as successful as our support, as our tools allow. Skill without the means of using it doesn't go far. Most find choosing and finding physical tools much easier than finding the best associates, partners, assistants, employees. Too often, factors unrelated to skill influence these decisions—for example, history's countless and disastrous examples of nepotism. Some worry that subordinates will outshine them and for this reason choose inferior support. Some make these bad choices from a misguided and inappropriate sense of compassion.

Weapons of war
Are instruments of fear,
A spread of plague,
Hateful to living things.
Therefore the wise shun them.

Weapons are not auspicious tools,
And should be used only when no choice,
Then with only a calm, still mind
That doesn’t rejoice at victory.

To rejoice at victory
Is to enjoy killing people.
And to enjoy killing people
Is to lose share in the common good
And the possibility for worldly success.

The death of so many
Is cause for mourning.
Victory in war should be received
With funeral ceremonies.

Well planted is not easily uprooted,
Well taken care of is not easily taken away
And will be honored from generation to generation.

Cultivated in yourself, goodness becomes real.
Cultivated in your family it grows,
Cultivated in your village it multiplies,
Cultivated in your country it flourishes,
Cultivated in the world it brings goodness everywhere.

We understand others through understanding ourselves,
Other families through understanding our own family,
Other communities through understanding our own community,
Other countries through understanding our own country.

How do we know this is true?
By seeing into our own experience.

What separates us often seems so huge while in actuality remaining quite tiny. We can almost always find a quality within ourselves that can harmonize and connect the people we communicate with—a little philosophy with the philosophers, a little humor with the jovial, seriousness with the scientific, saintly with the saints, street-smart with the hustlers. The good will and support of others determines so much of success in life and not much creates good will more than listening, noticing moods, understanding, and corresponding to each unique, personal interaction.

When first born, we’re small and weak;
The living are soft and flexible.
When we die, we become hard and stiff;
The dead are rigid, unmoving.
The greenery - grasses, plants and trees
Growing are tender and supple,
Dead are dry and brittle.
And so the strong and hard
Go along with dying;
The open to change and flexible with living.

When an army becomes inflexible,
It suffers defeat.
A tree that won’t bend
Easily breaks in storms.
The hard and strong will fail,
The open-hearted prevail.

When people don’t appreciate living,
And so aren’t afraid of dying,
What good is threatening them with the death penalty?
When they appreciate and love life,
They fear heaven’s executioner,
They naturally love and take care of their lives.

But even if having a human executioner
Would make people change for the better,
Who could justly take on this role?
Only the karmic Net of Heaven can do that.
Anyone usurping this role of heaven,
Only causes great harm to themselves.

When planning ahead and making decisions, most only consider the opportunity, the resources, the marketplace; few recognize their "luck," even think of luck as superstition. Another way of understanding luck could be the commingling of environmental challenges, cultural momentum, political environment, personal skill and—most importantly— timing. Seneca defined luck as preparation meeting opportunity, bad luck arising from reaching for the opportunity without the preparation. For example, waiting to take care of our health until we're older and having problems becomes a way of creating our own bad luck. On the other hand, cultivating patience, forethought, and unbiased awareness create the kind of luck that seizes realistic opportunity while quickly withdrawing when fortune turns unfavorable.

When realization of the Tao and authentic presence dims,
We try to be kind and just.
When we over-value reason and learning,
Immense hypocrisy arises.

The sicker the society,
The more loyal true believers.
The more dysfunctional the family,
The more autocratic and subservient.
The more harmful the religion,
The more dogmatic extremists.
The more detrimental the government,
The more fanatic partisans.

When seduced by an image of beauty,
We create ugliness.
If that becomes beautiful, this becomes ugly.
When impressed by an image of goodness,
We create badness.
If this becomes good, that becomes bad.

Form & emptiness arise together:
Difficult & easy complement each other,
Long & short shape each other,
High & low contrast each other,
Note & noise harmonize each other,
First & last, before & after, back & front –
All follow each other.

Therefore the wise
Perform effortless deeds,
Practice wordless teachings,
Teach without saying anything.
And without grasping and fixation,
As the ten thousand things arise and dissolve,
They hold without owning,
Create without claiming,
Work without taking credit,
Accomplish without attachment.

What arises lasts forever because
Letting it go makes it stay.

When someone is thirsty they focus on finding water; but when they've satisfied their thirst, they turn their back on the well. After an orange is squeezed, it's thrown away. People esteem us and depend on us when we inspire hope; but once satisfied, gratitude, good behavior, and respect soon becomes forgotten. Hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one—much better to have people need us than thank us. Always keep hope alive without completely satisfying it.

When the rich spend taxes on making themselves richer,
The people starve.
Thieves and robbers arise from cold and hunger.
When the people don’t have enough,
Why should the rich have too much?

When the rich oppress,
The people rebel.
When the government is too intrusive,
The people are hard to govern.
The more laws they make,
The more criminals appear.

When the powerful make too much of life,
The people make light of death.
Those not seduced by fortune and fame
Are worth so much more than these wealth-seekers.
Only a leader not focused on personal gain
Can wisely govern.

When the wise hear of the Tao,
They immediately follow it.
When the conventional hear,
They wonder if it’s true.
When the foolish hear,
They laugh out loud.
If there were no laughter,
It wouldn’t be the Tao.
Therefore these saying arose:

The brightest path seems dark,
Advancing seems like retreating,
The smoothest way seems rough,
The easy way seems hard,
Perfect whiteness looks dirty,
The strongest power seems weak,
The truest truth uncertain,
The pure and simple looks chaotic,
The highest virtue is empty like a valley,

The greatest square has no corners,
The greatest tool has no uses,
The greatest music has no sound,
The greatest image has no form.

The Tao is hidden and nameless
Yet it alone nourishes, sustains
And brings everything to fulfillment

When troubles arise, rely more and more on yourself. The bigger the problem, the more energy, confidence, and perseverance we need to bring forward. When we surrender to fate, it only makes it more intolerable. By not helping ourselves we only double the weight of our concerns and prevent us from seeing how best to overcome them. Strengthening our weaknesses and confidently going forward dissolves worries and entices success out of failure. The wise know themselves, understand the challenge, increase their knowledge and skills, and therefore conquer all—even the unlucky stars.

When we don’t fear the fearful,
Confusion and great suffering arise.
Therefore fear a constricted life,
Fear wasting your time with a meaningless career.
If we don’t accept superficial values,
We won’t act in superficial ways.

And so the wise know themselves
But don’t show themselves,
Take care of and appreciate
But don’t puff up and exaggerate.
They let go of that
And choose this.

When we suppress our insight into the best response to a given situation because of a reluctance to create conflict, we compromise our integrity and only delay and amplify the difficult moments. For bees to make honey, they need to rely on their stingers for protection. Moral courage goes far beyond just physical courage while moral cowardice degrades much more than physical weakness. Because of this reluctance to say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done, many otherwise intelligent and talented people live empty lives of meaningless boredom cocooned in their cowardice.

When we talk about ourselves, we normally either praise or criticize. The former communicates vanity and pride; the latter weak-minded lack of confidence. Both discredit reputations, sabotage projects, and make the people listening uncomfortable. Much better to never talk about ourselves—in personal conversations; and, even more importantly, if in a group or public setting. For similar reasons, also best to not talk about someone part of the group and listening.

When wisdom rules,
Horses manure fields instead of roads.
When the world lacks wisdom,
War horses are raised on the commons.

The greatest evil: always wanting more.
The biggest mistake: always chasing desires.
The cruelest curse: always getting what we want.

Only when we know what is enough
Will we always have enough.
To know enough’s enough
Is enough to know.

When you start something new, be extremely careful about people's anticipation and their imagination. They need to know enough to become curious and inspired but not enough to arouse unrealistic expectations. We can never accurately imagine the future's reality. No matter how beneficial the project or how much integrity the person, they will always fall short of the public's desire-inspired imagination. Hope distorts the truth and transfigures reality, creates a pitfall for the famous, and conjures detractors and enemies out of colleagues and customers. The highest success arrives when the results climb higher than the anticipation, the taste proves better than the appearance, when the reward goes further than the goal. With evil people and activities, however, the opposite applies. Expectations of great calamity manifest as easily tolerable and the negative event brings relief instead of frustration.

Which means more to you –
Health or wealth?
What matters more –
Fame or your true name?
Which gives more pain –
Loss or gain?

The more we love something,
The more it will cost.
The bigger the treasure,
The more will be lost.
Contentment keeps disgrace away,
Knowing when to stop keeps danger at bay.

While fools often fail by rushing in too quickly, the wise often fail from too much deliberation. Haste without forethought, knowledge of the dangers, and preparation easily leads to failure. Too much hesitation and caution, however, can lead to procrastination and delay that misses opportunities and good fortune. Seizing quickly-passing opportunities often requires prompt judgment. Leaving nothing for tomorrow, mix diligence with intelligence and seize the day.