Chapter 37
"The Tao in its regular course does nothing for the sake of doing it, and so there is nothing which it does not do.
If princes and kings were able to maintain it, all things would of themselves be transformed by them.
If this transformation became to me an object of desire, I would express the desire by the nameless simplicity.
Simplicity without a name
Is free from all external aim.
With no desire, at rest and still,
All things go right as of their will."
- Translated by James Legge, 1891, Chapter 37
"The Way never does anything,
and everything gets done.
If those is power could hold to the Way,
the ten-thousand things
would look after themselves.
If even so they tried to act,
I'd quiet them with the nameless,
the natural.
In the unnamed, in the unshapen,
is not wanting.
In not wanting is stillness.
In stillness all under heaven rests."
- Rendition by Ursula K. Le Guin, 2009, Chapter 37
"The Way takes no action, but leaves nothing undone.
When you accept this
The world will flourish,
In harmony with nature.
Nature does not possess desire;
Without desire, the heart becomes quiet;
In this manner the whole world is made tranquil."
- Interpolated by Peter Merel, 1992, Chapter 37
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