Daodejing, Laozi, Chapter 37

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
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 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  


"Reason always practices non-assertion, and there is nothing that remains undone.   
 If princes and kings could keep Reason, the ten thousand creatures would of themselves be reformed.
 While being reformed they might yet be anxious to stir; but I would restrain them by the simplicity of the Ineffable.
 The simplicity of the unexpressed
 Will purify the heart of lust.
 Is there no lust there will be rest,
 And all the world will thus be blest."
 -  Translated by Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki and Paul Carus, 1913, Chapter 37   



道常無為, 而無不為. 
侯王若能守之, 萬物將自化. 
化而欲作, 吾將鎮之以無名之樸. 
無名之樸, 夫亦將無欲. 
不欲以靜, 天下將自定. 
-  Chinese characters, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 37


tao ch'ang wu wei, erh wu pu wei.
hou wang jo nêng shou chih, wan wu chiang tzu hua.
hua erh yü tso, wu chiang chên chih yi wu ming chih p'u.
wu ming chih p'u, fu yi chiang wu yü.
pu yü yi ching, t'ien hsia chiang tzu ting.
-  Wade-Giles Romanization, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 37



"Tao is never active, but there is nothing it does not do.
If princes and kings could hold onto it, all things would develop by themselves.
When they develop, the desire in them would emerge,
I would restrain them with simplicity,
So simple that it does not even have a name,
In order to liberate them from desire.
Free of desire, they would be soaked in tranquillity,
And thus the world would attain purity and virtue.
Simplicity, however unimportant it may be,
Cannot be subdued even by the entire world.
If princes and kings could hold onto it,
Everything in the world, of its own accord, would pay homage.
Heaven and earth would unite to sprinkle dew, sweeter than honey, on the ground.
Without anyone ordering them to do so, people would attain harmony by themselves.
With the mission accomplished and the objectives achieved,
People would see themselves as following in nature's footsteps."
-  Translated by Chohan Chou-Wing, Chapter 37  

"The Tao eternally non-acts, and so

It does nothing and yet there is nothing left to do;

If prince or king could keep it, all would change

Of their own accord with a transformation strange.

And so transformed, should desire to change again still come to be,

I would quiet such desire by the Nameless One' s simplicity,

But the Nameless One' s simplicity is free from all desire,

So tranquilly, of their own accord, all things would still transpire."
-  Translated by Isaac Winter Heysinger, 1903, Chapter 37 

"Way-making is really nameless.
 Were the nobles and kings able to respect this,
 All things would be able to develop along their own lines.
 Having developed along their own lines, were they to desire to depart from this,
 I would realign them
 With a nameless scarp of unworked wood.
 Realigned with this nameless scrap of unworked wood,
 They would leave off desiring.
 Is not desiring, they would achieve equilibrium,
 And all the world would be properly ordered of its own accord."
 -  Translated by Roger T. Ames and Donald L. Hall, 2003, Chapter 37   

"El Tao, por su naturaleza, no actúa,
pero nada hay que no sea hecho por él.
Si los príncipes y los reyes
pudieran adherírsele,
todos los seres evolucionarían por sí mismos.
Si al evolucionar aún persistiera el deseo codicioso,
yo los retornaría a la simplicidad sin nombre.
En la simplicidad sin nombre no existe el deseo.
Sin deseos es posible la paz
y el mundo se ordenaría por sí mismo."
-  Translation from Wikisource, 2013, Capitulo 37


"Tao never does anything,
And everything gets done.
If rulers can keep to it,
The ten thousand things will changes of themselves.
Changed, things may start to stir.
Quiet them with the namelessly simple,
Which alone will bring no-desire.
No-desire: then there is peace,
And beneath-heaven will settle down of itself."
-  Translated by Herrymoon Maurer, 1985, Chapter 37

Chapter 37 of the Tao Te Ching

Chapter and Thematic Index (Concordance) to the Tao Te Ching

English Language Translators' Index

Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices

Taoism: A Selected Reading List

 A typical webpage created by Mike Garofalo on a Chapter of the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) by Lao Tzu (Laozi) includes at least 16 different translations or interpolations of the Chapter in English, two Spanish translations, the Chinese characters for the Chapter, a Wade-Giles and Hanyu Pinyin Romanization of the Mandarin Chinese words for the Chapter, recommended reading lists, a detailed bibliography, indexing by key words and terms for the Chapter in English, Spanish, and the Wade-Giles Romanization, and other resources for the Chapter.