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Taoism & Chinese Folk Religion · Taoist Classics

Tao Te Ching 70

18

Taoism & Chinese Folk Religion · Taoist Classics

Tao Te Ching 70

LeggeEnglish
ChineseChinese
My words are very easy to know, and very easy to practise; but there is no one in the world who is able to know and able to practise them.
吾言甚易知,甚易行。天下莫能知,莫能行。言有宗,事有君。夫唯無知,是以不我知。知我者希,則我者貴。是以聖人被褐懷玉。
There is an originating and all-comprehending (principle) in my words, and an authoritative law for the things (which I enforce). It is because they do not know these, that men do not know me.
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They who know me are few, and I am on that account (the more) to be prized. It is thus that the sage wears (a poor garb of) hair cloth, while he carries his (signet of) jade in his bosom.
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Tao Te Ching 69Tao Te Ching 71
Sources & credits: Legge · Chinese

Legge — Tao Te Ching (James Legge) (1891). Public Domain. Translated by James Legge (1891), public domain; Project Gutenberg #216. Source

Chinese — 道德經 (Classical Chinese) (c. 4th century BCE). Public Domain. Chinese text, Project Gutenberg #24039, public domain. Source