Dao De Jing by Lao Zi, Chapter 12

"The five colors
blind our eyes.
The five notes
deafen our ears.
The five flavors
dull our taste.
Racing, chasing, hunting,
drives people crazy.
Trying to get rich
ties people in knots.
So the wise soul
watches with the inner
not with the outward eye,
letting that go,
keeping this."
-  Translation by Ursula K. Le Guin, 2009, Chapter 12 


"The five colors combined the human eye will blind;
The five notes in one sound the human ear confound;
The five tastes when they blend the human mouth offend.
Racing and hunting will human hearts turn mad,
Treasures high-prized make human conduct bad.
The holy man attends to the inner and not to the outer.
He abandons the latter and chooses the former."
-   Translated by D. T. Suzuki and Paul Carus, 1913, Chapter 12  

"Color's five hues from the eyes their sight will take;
Music's five notes the ears as deaf can make;
The flavors five deprive the mouth of taste;
The chariot course, and the wild hunting waste
Make mad the mind;
And objects rare and strange,
Sought for,
Men's conduct will to evil change.
Therefore the sage seeks to satisfy the craving of the belly,
and not the insatiable longing of the eyes.
He puts from him the latter, and prefers to seek the former."
-   Translated by James Legge, 1891, Chapter 12     


"The five colors
   make a man's eyes blind;
Horseracing and hunting
   make a man's mind go mad;
Goods that are hard to obtain
   make a man's progress falter;
The five flavors
   make a man's palate dull;
The five tones
   make a man's ears deaf.
For these reasons,
   In ruling, the sage
       attends to the stomach, not to the eye.
Therefore,
   He rejects the one and adopts the other."
-  Translation by Victor H. Mair, 1990, Chapter 12  

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu 

Ripening Peaches: Daoist Studies and Practices