Ratmachines.com

What is at rest is easy to hold;
What has not yet given a sign is easy to plan for;
The brittle is easily shattered;
The minute is easily scattered;
Act on it before it comes into being;
Order it before it turns into chaos.

A tree so big that it takes both arms to surround starts out as the tiniest shoot;
A nine-story terrace rises up from a basket of dirt.
A high place one hundred, one thousand feet high begins from under your feet.

Those who act on it ruin it;
Those who hold on to it lose it.
Therefore the Sage does not act,
And as a result, he doesn't ruin things;
He does not hold on to things,
And as a result, he doesn't lose things;
In people's handling of affairs, they always ruin things when they're right at the point of completion.
Therefore we say, "If you're as careful at the end as you were at the beginning, you'll have no failures."
Therefore the Sage desires not to desire and doesn't value goods that are hard to obtain;
He learns not to learn and returns to what the masses pass by;
He could help all things to be natural, yet he dare not do it.