Knowing When You Have Enough
A Load You Can Still Carry
Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere. Those skilled in the Tao do not dispute; the disputatious are not skilled in it. Those who know are not extensively learned; the extensively learned do not know it. The sage does not accumulate for himself. The more that he expends for others, the more does he possess of his own; the more that he gives, the more does he have. With all the sharpness of the Way of Heaven, it injures not; with all the doing in the way of the sage he does not strive.
Key Insight
The last chapter refuses the warehouse. Possession increases by expenditure. Heaven stays sharp and still does not injure. Enough, here, is a circulation, not a hoard.
“The sage does not accumulate (for himself). The more that he expends for others, the more does he possess of his own; the more that he gives to others, the more does he have himself.”Explore full theme analysis
