The highest virtue does not strive to be virtuous;
therefore it has virtue.
The lesser virtue clings to virtue;
therefore it has no virtue.

The highest virtue does not act,
and holds no purpose.
The lesser virtue acts,
and holds to a purpose.

The highest benevolence acts without purpose.
The highest righteousness acts with purpose.
The highest ritual acts, and when no one responds,
it rolls up its sleeves and forces them to follow.

When the Way is lost, virtue arises.
When virtue is lost, benevolence emerges.
When benevolence is lost, righteousness appears.
When righteousness is lost, ritual is all that is left.

Ritual is but the husk of loyalty and faith;
the beginning of disorder.
Foresight is a blossom of the Way,
yet it marks the start of folly.

Therefore the wise dwell in the substance, not the surface;
in the fruit, not the flower.
They reject that, and embrace this.