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Chapter 64 |
其安易持，其未兆易謀，其脆易泮，其微易散。為之於未有，治之於未亂。合抱之木，生於毫末，九層之臺，起於累土，千里之行，始於足下。為者敗之，執者失之，是以聖人無為故無敗，無執故無失。民之從事，常於幾成而敗之，慎終如始，則無敗事。是以聖人欲不欲，不貴難得之貨，學不學，復眾人之所過，以輔萬物之自然而不敢為。 |
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qi an yi chi |
It will be easier for a society to maintain when it is stable. |
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qi wei zhao yi mou |
It will be easier for a problem to be solved when it is not conspicuous. |
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qi cui yi pan |
It will be easier for an object to fall apart when it is loose. |
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qi wei yi san |
It will be easier for something to disperse when it is tiny. |
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wei zhi yu wei you |
It will be easier for a country to run when it does not belong to anyone. |
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zhi zhi yu wei luan |
It will be easier for a society to be governed when there is no social turmoil. |
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he bao zhi mu, sheng |
An arms-wide thick tree trunk started to grow from a tiny stem. |
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jiu ceng zhi tai, qi yu lei tu
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A nine-story tall terrace started to be built from the first pile of clay. |
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qian li zhi xing, shi yu zu xia |
A thousand-mile long journey was started by the first step. |
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wei zhe bai zhi |
Those who try to run the country as if it is their own property must fail. |
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zhi zhe shi zhi |
Those who try to seize the country as their own property must lose it in the end. |
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shi yi sheng ren wu |
The shengren does not run the country in his possession and there is nothing for him to fail. |
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wu zhi gu wu shi |
The shengren does not seize the country in his possession and there is nothing for him to lose. |
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min zhi cong shi, |
The matter of governing people in an unnatural manner always seems successful in the beginning but is doomed to failure in the end. |
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shen zhong ru shi, ze |
It is prudent to look forward to an end of the same way as it started. Then there will be no failure. |
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shi yi sheng ren yu bu yu
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The shengren has his mind only on things that are other than the desire of possessing the country. |
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bu gui nan de zhi |
He does not treasure rare articles. |
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xue bu xue, fu zhong ren zhi suo guo |
He only educates the people how to live a life naturally rather than teaches the people to learn the feudal courtesy to live an unnatural life under the feudal class system and reverses what the populace has learned wrongly and unnaturally. |
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yi fu wan wu zhi zi ran er bu gan wei |
Help all of the people to live their own lives independently and scare off anyone who tries to seize the country again. |