Chapter 1
When all under heaven recognize beauty as beauty, ugliness has already arisen.
When all recognize goodness as goodness, not-goodness has already arisen.
Thus being and non-being give birth to each other; difficult and easy complete each other; long and short measure each other; high and low incline toward each other; tone and voice harmonize with each other; before and after follow each other.
Therefore the sage dwells in the practice of non-coercive action, and conducts the teaching without words; the ten thousand things arise and he does not turn them away, he gives them life yet does not possess them.
He acts yet does not rely on his actions, achieves success yet does not dwell in it.
Precisely because he does not dwell there, it never departs from him.