Tao Te Ching

“Rulership was set up because the strong oppressed the weak, the many did violence to the few, the cunning fooled the simple, the bold attacked the timid, people kept knowledge to themselves and did not teach, people accumulated wealth and did not share it. So the institution of rulership was set up to equalize and unify them.”

— Liú Ān 劉安 1 via Thomas Cleary
(Huainanzi)
from Huainanzi