CHINESE ORIGINAL
宠辱若惊，贵大患若身。
何谓宠辱若惊？
宠为下，得之若惊，失之若惊，是谓宠辱若惊。
何谓贵大患若身？
吾所以有大患者，为吾有身，及吾无身，吾有何患？
故贵以身为天下，若可寄天下；爱以身为天下，若可托天下。
ENGLISH · JAMES LEGGE, 1891
Favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared; honour and great calamity, to be regarded as personal conditions (of the same kind).
What is meant by speaking thus of favour and disgrace? Disgrace is being in a low position (after the enjoyment of favour). The getting that (favour) leads to the apprehension (of losing it), and the losing it leads to the fear of (still greater calamity):--this is what is meant by saying that favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared.
And what is meant by saying that honour and great calamity are to be (similarly) regarded as personal conditions? What makes me liable to great calamity is my having the body (which I call myself); if I had not the body, what great calamity could come to me?
Therefore he who would administer the kingdom, honouring it as he honours his own person, may be employed to govern it, and he who would administer it with the love which he bears to his own person may be entrusted with it.
READ IN CONTEXT
Self-cultivation
Begin with the way you attend to your own life: quietness, humility, honesty, and the patient work of knowing yourself.
Self-cultivation