What is secure is easily grasped, What has no omens is easily forestalled, What is brittle is easily split, What is minuscule is easily dispersed. Act before there is a problem; Bring order before there is disorder. A tree that fills the arms’ embrace is born from a downy shoot; A terrace nine layers high starts from a basketful of earth; An ascent of a hundred strides begins beneath one’s foot. Who acts fails; Who grasps loses. For this reason, The sage does not act. Therefore, He does not fail. He does not grasp. Therefore, He does not lose. In pursuing their affairs, people often fail when they are close to success. Therefore, If one is as cautious at the end as at the beginning, there will be no failures. For this reason, The sage desires to be without desire and does not prize goods that are hard to obtain; He learns not to learn and reverts to what the masses pass by. Thus, he can help the myriad creatures be natural, but dares not act.