He "feeds his mind with a wise passiveness." (Sec.

16.) "_Not to act_ is the source of all power," is a thesis continually present to the mind of Lao (Sec.Sec.3, 23, 38,43,48, 63).
The wise man is like water (Sec.Sec.8, 78), which seems weak and is strong; which yields, seeks the lowest place, which seems the softest thing and breaks the hardest thing.

To be wise one must renounce wisdom, to be good one must renounce justice and humanity, to be learned one must renounce knowledge (Sec.Sec.19, 20, 45), and must have no desires (Sec.Sec.8, 22), must detach one's self from all things (Sec.

20) and be like a new-born babe.

From everything proceeds its opposite, the easy from the difficult, the difficult from the easy, the long from the short, the high from the low, ignorance from knowledge, knowledge from ignorance, the first from the last, the last from the first.