From Tao Te Ching
From Tao Te Ching. Translation by James Legge.
Chinese · English
English translation prepared automatically for the Brief. Original sources and creator credits remain the reference.
The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest; that which has no (substantial) existence enters where there is no crevice.
The surrounding passage
The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest; that which has no (substantial) existence enters where there is no crevice. I know hereby what advantage belongs to doing nothing (with a purpose).
The work and its creator
Explore the original at Project Gutenberg ↗
Creator: Laozi (traditional attribution)
Nationality / cultural background: Chinese
Work / edition: 1891 translation
Translation: James Legge · English
Historical public-domain text. Selected passage; line-end whitespace normalised. No generated quotation.
In the source: PART 1.; paragraph 143 in the selected body section
Selected for the Brief on 20 Sep 2026. This date records our selection, rather than when the work was created.
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