Chapter 58

The government that seems the most unwise,

Oft goodness to the people best supplies;

That which is meddling, touching everything,

Will work but ill, and disappointment bring.

Misery!--happiness is to be found by its side! Happiness!--misery

lurks beneath it! Who knows what either will come to in the end?

Shall we then dispense with correction? The (method of) correction

shall by a turn become distortion, and the good in it shall by a turn

become evil. The delusion of the people (on this point) has indeed

subsisted for a long time.

Therefore the sage is (like) a square which cuts no one (with its

angles); (like) a corner which injures no one (with its sharpness).

He is straightforward, but allows himself no license; he is bright,

but does not dazzle.