Chapter LXXXI
(Chapter 81)

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Ko Yuen Translation

The Shewing-forth of Simplicity
1. True speech is not elegant; elaborate speech is not truth.  Those who know do not argue; the argumentative are without knowledge.  Those who have assimilated are not learned; those who are gross with learning have not assimilated.
2. The Wise Man doth not hoard.  The more he giveth, the more he hath; the more he watereth, the more is he watered himself.
3. The Tao of Heaven is like an Arrow, yet it woundeth not; and the Wise Man, in all his Works, maketh no contention.

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S. Mitchell Translation
True words aren't eloquent;
eloquent words aren't true.
Wise men don't need to prove their point;
men who need to prove their point aren't wise.

The Master has no possessions.
The more he does for others,
the happier he is.
The more he gives to others,
the wealthier he is.

The Tao nourishes by not forcing.
By not dominating, the Master leads.

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James Legge Translation
1. Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere.  Those who are skilled (in the Tao) do not dispute (about it); the disputatious are not skilled in it.  Those who know (the Tao) are not extensively learned; the extensively learned do not know it.
2. The sage does not accumulate (for himself).  The more that he expends for others, the more does he possess of his own; the more that he gives to others, the more does he have himself.
3. With all the sharpness of the Way of Heaven, it injures not; with all the doing in the way of the sage he does not strive.

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GNL not Lao Interpolation

The Sage
Honest people use no rhetoric;
Rhetoric is not honesty.
Enlightened people are not cultured;
Culture is not enlightenment.
Content people are not wealthy;
Wealth is not contentment.

So the sage does not serve himself;
The more he does for others, the more he is satisfied;
The more he gives, the more he receives.
Nature flourishes at the expense of no one;
So the sage benefits all men and contends with none.

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