Those who desire to take the world and act upon it;
I see that they will not attain their aim.

The world is a sacred vessel,
it cannot be acted upon.
To act upon it is to ruin it;
to grasp it is to lose it.

Among all things:
some move ahead, and some follow behind;
some breathe softly, and some blow fiercely;
some are strong, and some are weak;
some prevail, and some fall to ruin.

Therefore, the sage rejects the extreme,
the extravagant,
and the excessive.