CHINESE ORIGINAL
不出户，知天下；不闚牖，见天道。
其出弥远，其知弥少。
是以圣人不行而知，不见而名，不为而成。
ENGLISH · JAMES LEGGE, 1891
Without going outside his door, one understands (all that takes place) under the sky; without looking out from his window, one sees the Tao of Heaven. The farther that one goes out (from himself), the less he knows.
Therefore the sages got their knowledge without travelling; gave their (right) names to things without seeing them; and accomplished their ends without any purpose of doing so.
Legge’s translation uses nineteenth-century English. Parentheses are the translator’s; English chapter headings are editorial reading aids. Sources & method ↗
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