Laozi
以道佐人主者，不以兵強天下。 其事好還。師之所處，荊棘生焉。 大軍之後，必有凶年。 善有果而已，不敢以取強。 果而勿矜，果而勿伐，果而勿驕。 果而不得已，果而勿強。 物壯則老，是謂不道，不道早已。
James Legge
He who would assist a lord of men in harmony with the Tao will not assert his mastery in the kingdom by force of arms. Such a course is sure to meet with its proper return.
Wherever a host is stationed, briars and thorns spring up. In the sequence of great armies there are sure to be bad years.
A skilful (commander) strikes a decisive blow, and stops. He does not dare (by continuing his operations) to assert and complete his mastery. He will strike the blow, but will be on his guard against being vain or boastful or arrogant in consequence of it. He strikes it as a matter of necessity; he strikes it, but not from a wish for mastery.
When things have attained their strong maturity they become old. This may be said to be not in accordance with the Tao: and what is not in accordance with it soon comes to an end.
Victor H. Mair
One who assists the ruler of men with the Way does not use force of arms against all under heaven; Such a course is likely to boomerang. Where armies have been stationed, briars and brambles will grow. A good general fulfills his purpose and that is all. He does not use force to seize for himself. He fulfills his purpose, but is not proud; He fulfills his purpose, but is not boastful; He fulfills his purpose, but does not brag; He fulfills his purpose only because he has no other choice. This is called “fulfilling one’s purpose without using force.” If something grows old while still in its prime, This is called “not being in accord with the Way.” Not being in accord with the Way leads to an early demise.
C. Spurgeon Medhurst
When one uses the Tao in assisting his sovereign, he will not employ arms to coerce the state. Such methods easily react. [^1]
Where military camps are established briers and thorns flourish. When great armies have moved through the land calamities are sure to follow. [^2]
The capable are determined, but no more. They will not venture to compel; determined, but not conceited; determined, but not boastful; determined, but not arrogant; determined because it cannot be helped; determined, but not forceful.
When things reach their prime, they begin to age. This cannot be said to be the Tao. What is NOT the Tao soon ends. [^3]
War is crude, unrefined cruelty; a creator of divisions, and an opponent of the unity underlying creation; brute force and strategy are its weapons, each a contradiction of the simplicity and purity of God; its effects extend beyond the physical, and to those who have open ears there come from the Unseen, echoes similar to the lament of the Great Spirit in Hiawatha:
“O my children! my poor children! Listen to the words of wisdom, From the lips of the Great Spirit, From the Master of Life, who made you!"
"I am weary of your quarrels, Weary of your wars and bloodshed, Weary of your prayers for vengeance, Of your wranglings and divisions; All your strength is in your union, All your danger is in discord; Therefore be at peace henceforward, And as brothers live together.”
Armies when contending seem to be the most commanding forces in the universe, yet is their strength unequal to the Spiritual Force—electricity.
[^1] “With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again.”—Luke.
[^2] Although the Tao Teh King is now little read, so manifest is the Law of Retribution that this sentence has become one of the commonest proverbs in the Chinese colloquial.
[^3] See chap. 55.
Ursula K. Le Guin
A Taoist wouldn’t advise a ruler to use force of arms for conquest; that tactic backfires.
Where the army marched grow thorns and thistles. After the war come the bad harvests. Good leaders prosper, that’s all, not presuming on victory. They prosper without boasting, or domineering, or arrogance, prosper because they can’t help it, prosper without violence.
Things flourish then perish. Not the Way. What’s not the Way soon ends.
Note UKLG: This first direct statement of Lao Tzu’s pacifism is connected in thought to the previous poem and leads directly to the next. The last verse is enigmatic: “Things flourish then perish” — How can this supremely natural sequence not be the Way? I offer my understanding of it in the note on the page with chapter 55, where nearly the same phrase occurs.