Laozi — "He who knows glory, yet keeps to ignominy, is the valley of the world."

"The great square has no corners. The great vessel is never full. The great sound is inaudible. The great image has no form."

"The empire is a sacred vessel and cannot be acted on. He who acts on it harms it; he who grasps it loses it."

"Therefore the sage manages affairs without doing anything, and conveys his instructions without the use of speech."

"The best of men is like water. Water benefits all things and does not compete with them. It dwells in lowly places that all disdain. This is why it is so near to the Tao."

"To see things in the seed, that is genius."