"Time and I Against Any Two"
Accomplishments quickly and easily gained normally have shallow roots, easily reverse, and mean little. Lasting, meaningful achievements build up little by little over long periods of time. Master yourself first by never rushing or letting excitement unleash passions that lead to ill-considered decisions. Thoughtful and strategic patience actualizes opportunity while haste falls far short. By patiently navigating the maze of time we avoid unforeseen pitfalls and slowly build success. The best idea attempted at the wrong time fails while composed, even-tempered waiting recognizes the unique moment for the most advantageous action.

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.

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.

Those with even a little sense
Walk the Way humbly
And arrogance is all they fear.
This way is smooth and straight
But people love their sidetracks.

When mansions are full of splendor;
Fields are full of weeds,
Farms are poor and wild,
And the granaries are empty.

These are the real robber barons,
The worst of lowly brigands
With the vanity of thieves:

People wearing wealth
With weapons at their side
Over-filled with food and drink
Hoarding what they do not need.

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.

Everything has a common beginning,
The mother of all things.
By understanding the mother,
We understand the children.
And when we understand the children,
We naturally turn back to the mother
And as the body comes to its ending,
We remain with nothing to fear.

Block all the openings,
Close all the gates
And life will always be full.
Open everything up
Always distracted and busy
And you will live without help or hope.

Those who understand the insignificant have vision
Those who protect the weak have strength.
Those who use their outer sight
While trusting their insight
Live beyond death
Cultivating the changeless.

Don't let passions, moods, or sudden emotions throw you off balance into doing or saying embarrassing things you'll regret later. Strong feelings create passions that—if unchecked—can destroy reputations, undermine friendships, and sabotage our projects. Instead of getting angry or upset, cultivate a kind of equanimity that appreciates both when things go our way and when they don't: when we meet with success and when we meet with failure, when we're praised and when we're reviled.

All things arise from the Tao
And the Power of Goodness nourishes them
As their own being shapes them,
As their own energy completes them.
In this way, the 10,000 things
All hold the Tao Sacred
And follow the Power of Goodness.

Unforced and natural,
This reverence and devotion
Arises spontaneously
As the Way gives life and supports,
Mothers and trains,
Shelters and protects,
Comforts and completes.

Mysterious, hidden, and profound;
This highest goodness
Holds without possessing,
Succeeds without taking credit,
Leads without controlling.

Success in life depends on making good decisions but often even the most intelligent and highly educated continually make choices that undermine their own happiness, accomplishments, and goals. Not intelligence, experience, or education assure good judgments. To be able to choose at all requires an objective and clear self-awareness. To make good choices requires an experiential understanding of cause and effect, an appreciation for the power of goodness, and a dedication to virtue.

To look too hard for life
Is to find death.
3 out of 10 chase their passions,
3 out of 10 push away what they don’t like,
3 out of 10 ignore and sleep-walk.
These all hold on too hard to life.

Only 1 out of 10 understands how to live in ways
That they fear no weapons in battle,
That they cross wild lands without fear of danger.
Horns can find no place to gore,
Claws can find no place to tear,
Soldiers can find no place to thrust their swords.

They have nowhere in them for death to enter.

Be true to yourself and your own personal integrity rather than just following externally dictated rules. But keep that self-judgement pure with a higher standard than conventional morals and laws. Not because of looking for approval but for the sake of your own self-respect, avoid anything that diminishes this personal evaluation and dedication to goodness.

The wise have no set mind of their own,
No goals or intensions.
They take the mind of the common people
As their own.
They’re kind to good people
And they’re kind to bad people
Until they become good.
They trust the true
And they trust the false
Until they become true.

With the world
They mix their minds,
With the world
They merge their lives.
People focus their eyes and ears
While sages only smile.

Don't let yourself become a victim of circumstance, of fate, of any person. Instead of lamenting, complaining, or projecting when difficulties arise, take responsibility and flow with, direct, and transform every experience with awareness. First impressions—frequently only based on a person’s acting skills or an advertiser's psychological understanding—almost always inflate, exaggerate, or skillfully lie. Instead of naively believing, the wise quickly see through the deception, perceive the hidden motivations and conflicts of interest. They reason based on reality and act based on insightful reasoning.

Those who seek learning
Grow larger every day.
Those who follow the Tao
Daily shrink.
They lose and they lose
Until they arrive at not-doing.

Nothing to do
Means nothing not done,
Nothing to fuss over,
No gaining ideas.

Those busy interfering,
Making a big deal out of everything
With their ambition and grasping
Are not fit to rule,
To run things,
To be in charge of anything.

Most of us have accepted a one-dimensional social mask and have practiced to perfection performing an externally imposed role. Like an unfinished house with an elaborate, palace-like exterior but shabby, dilapidated interior rooms; superficial personalities often glow while character and integrity steep in a murky darkness. They may fool the undiscerning with their surface facade but the clear-sighted easily see through the deceptions. Conversations start with cheery platitudes but quickly end in an uncomfortable silence. Words soon end when they have no contemplative wellspring. Instead, become a genuine person of substance with deeply rooted but hidden depths of thought, understanding, and realization.

Without leaving home
You can understand all that goes on in the world.
Without looking through a window,
You can see the universal patterns.
The farther you go,
The less you know.
The wise therefore
Don’t go but know,
Don’t look but see,
Don’t try but succeed.
The best way to do is to be.

Chains of cause and effect multiply from every action set in motion. The foolish see only the first link in this set, quickly commit, and get blindsided by the next-step consequences. The wise realize the distance and difficulty between taking on a new project and it becoming successful, take time to contemplate before acting, and avoid committing themselves unless they see a clear and valuable, multi-step process forward. Sometimes declining obligations requires more strength of character than accepting them. Rather than being led on by herd-instinct conformity, the prudent watch and let the fools rush in.

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.

We often see our own unacknowledged inner imperfections in others and build dislikes and prejudices against people and experiences before we know anything true about them. When this fabricated aversion attaches itself to the good and noble, it degrades us in a similar but opposite way as the appreciation and respect for the good in others ennobles us.

The greatest perfection seems flawed
Yet has inexhaustible usefulness.
Perfectly full, it seems empty
Yet never runs dry.

True straightness looks crooked,
True skill looks clumsy,
True eloquence sounds tongue-tied.

Still, it overcomes the active;
Active, it overcomes the still.
Opposites complement each other
Becoming the peaceful and serene
That sets the universe in order.