live at ease...

Don't pursue actions that can be repudiated, but don't resent it if people repudiate you.

Cultivate virtues worthy of praise, but don't expect people to praise you.

You cannot cause calamity not to occur, but trust in yourself not to beckon it.

You cannot cause fortune to arrive, but trust in yourself not to reject it.

When calamity occurs, since it is not your doing you do not grieve when in straits.

When fortune comes, since it is not your achievement you are not conceited when successful.

In this way you live at ease and enjoy effortlessness, yet there is order.


- Lao Tzu