Laozi
將欲歙之，必固張之； 將欲弱之，必固強之； 將欲廢之，必固興之； 將欲奪之，必固與之。 是謂微明。柔弱勝剛強。 魚不可脫於淵，國之利器 不可以示人。
James Legge
When one is about to take an inspiration, he is sure to make a (previous) expiration; when he is going to weaken another, he will first strengthen him; when he is going to overthrow another, he will first have raised him up; when he is going to despoil another, he will first have made gifts to him:—this is called ‘Hiding the light (of his procedure).’
The soft overcomes the hard; and the weak the strong.
Fishes should not be taken from the deep; instruments for the profit of a state should not be shown to the people.
Victor H. Mair
When you wish to contract something, you must momentarily expand it; When you wish to weaken something, you must momentarily strengthen it; When you wish to reject something, you must momentarily join with it; When you wish to seize something, you must momentarily give it up. This is called “subtle insight.” The soft and weak conquer the strong. Fish cannot be removed from the watery depths; The profitable instruments of state cannot be shown to the people.
C. Spurgeon Medhurst
When about to inhale it is certainly necessary to open the mouth; when about to weaken it is certainly necessary to strengthen; when about to discard it is certainly necessary to promote; when about to take away it is certainly necessary to impart—this is atomic perception.
The weak overcome the strong.
Fish cannot leave the deeps.
The innerness of the government cannot be shown to the people.
”Though He was a Son, yet (He) learned obedience by the things which He suffered; and having been made perfect, He became unto all them that obey Him the cause of eternal salvation.” Before the Christ could weaken the pride of the sinner and humble man’s false exaltation He had to strengthen and uplift the sinner with the knowledge that He had Himself become for his sake “of no reputation.” The intellect may fail to grasp the full meaning of this sacrifice but the spirit knows that its safety lies in surrendering before the surrender of God on its behalf, even as the security of the fish lies in the yielding water.
Ursula K. Le Guin
What seeks to shrink must first have grown; what seeks weakness surely was strong. What seeks its ruin must first have risen; what seeks to take has surely given.
This is called the small dark light: the soft, the weak prevail over the hard, the strong.
Note UKLG: There is a third stanza in all the texts:
Fish should stay underwater: the real means of rule should be kept dark.
Or, more literally, “the State’s sharp weapons ought not to be shown to the people.” This Machiavellian truism seems such an anticlimax to the great theme stated in the first verses that I treat it as an intrusion, perhaps a commentator’s practical example of “the small dark light.”