CHINESE ORIGINAL
大成若缺，其用不弊。
大盈若冲，其用不穷。
大直若屈，其用不居。
大巧若拙，其用不辍。
大辩若讷，其用不差。
躁胜寒，静胜热。
清静为天下正。
ENGLISH · JAMES LEGGE, 1891
45.
Who thinks his great achievements poor Shall find his vigour long endure. Of greatest fulness, deemed a void, Exhaustion ne'er shall stem the tide. Do thou what's straight still crooked deem; Thy greatest art still stupid seem, And eloquence a stammering scream.
Constant action overcomes cold; being still overcomes heat. Purity and stillness give the correct law to all under heaven.
Legge’s translation uses nineteenth-century English. Parentheses are the translator’s; English chapter headings are editorial reading aids. Sources & method ↗
READ IN CONTEXT
Paradox
Fullness can look empty; strength can emerge from yielding. Follow the reversals that make the Tao Te Ching both unsettling and illuminating.
Paradox