Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water
Yet nothing can better overcome the hard and strong
For they can neither control nor do away with it
The soft overcomes the hard
The yielding overcomes the strong
Every person knows this
But no one can practice it
Who attends to the people would control the land and grain
Who attends to the state would control the whole world
Truth is easily hidden by rhetoric
What is more yielding than water?
What is more persistent?
Push it away and it gently comes back
Know when to throttle back
If you go hunting for lions
One does not beat drums as they walk
It is the quiet and unassuming that are invisible yet achieve their goal
