Chapter 30

If you want to serve your ruler,
do it with the Tao, not with weapons,
not with force.
Violence recoils on the person who inflicts it.
Where armies camp, brambles grow.
Where armies march, desolation follows.
Fight only if you must. Be resolute and let go.
Be resolute and abandon pride.
Be resolute and abandon vanity.
Be resolute and abandon cruelty.
Attain your purpose and stop.
Don’t swagger and wave your manhood around.
People like that lose their way and die quickly.

© 2005