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Chapter 46

天下有道

天tiān下xià有yǒu道dào，
却què走zǒu马mǎ以yǐ粪fèn。
天tiān下xià无wú道dào，
戎róng马mǎ生shēng于yú郊jiāo。
祸huò莫mò大dà于yú不bù知zhī足zú；
咎jiù莫mò大dà于yú欲yù得dé。
故gù知zhī足zú之zhī足zú，
常cháng足zú矣yǐ。

a> When the Dao prevails in the world, fast horses are corralled for manure; when the Dao does not prevail in the world, steeds of war are born in the city pastures.

b> There is no calamity greater than not knowing what is sufficient; there is no fault greater than wishing to acquire. Thus the sufficiency of knowing what is sufficient is eternal sufficiency.

A modern classroom translation, with labeled subsections for study.

© 2010, 2016, 2019 Robert Eno. Freely available for personal use and not-for-profit educational settings. For other purposes, apart from fair use, copyright is not waived.