Chapter 57

Index
When the government is muddled and muted, the people are simple and honest; when the government is discriminating and exacting, the people are crafty and deceitful.
Misfortune is what fortune leans on; fortune is where misfortune hides.
Who knows their limits?
There is no fixed standard.
The standard reverts to the unusual, the good reverts to the strange.
The confusion of humanity has long been entrenched.
Therefore, the sage is square without cutting, sharp without piercing, straight without being unrestrained, bright without dazzling.