Laozi
以正治國,以奇用兵,以無事取天下。 吾何以知其然哉?以此: 天下多忌諱,而民彌貧; 民多利器,國家滋昏; 人多伎巧,奇物滋起; 法令滋彰,盜賊多有。 故聖人云:我無為,而民自化; 我好靜,而民自正; 我無事,而民自富; 我無欲,而民自樸。
James Legge
A state may be ruled by (measures of) correction; weapons of war may be used with crafty dexterity; (but) the kingdom is made one’s own (only) by freedom from action and purpose.
How do I know that it is so? By these facts:—In the kingdom the multiplication of prohibitive enactments increases the poverty of the people; the more implements to add to their profit that the people have, the greater disorder is there in the state and clan; the more acts of crafty dexterity that men possess, the more do strange contrivances appear; the more display there is of legislation, the more thieves and robbers there are.
Therefore a sage has said, ‘I will do nothing (of purpose), and the people will be transformed of themselves; I will be fond of keeping still, and the people will of themselves become correct. I will take no trouble about it, and the people will of themselves become rich; I will manifest no ambition, and the people will of themselves attain to the primitive simplicity.’
Victor H. Mair
Rule the state with uprightness, Deploy your troops with craft, Gain all under heaven with noninterference. How do I know this is actually so? Now, The more taboos under heaven, the poorer the people; The more clever devices people have, the more confused the state and ruling house; The more knowledge people have, the more strange things spring up; The more legal affairs are given prominence, the more numerous bandits and thieves. For this reason, The sage has a saying: “I take no action, yet the people transform themselves; I am fond of stillness, yet the people correct themselves; I do not interfere in affairs, yet the people enrich themselves; I desire not to desire, yet the people of themselves become simple as unhewn logs.”
C. Spurgeon Medhurst
Rule the Empire with uprightness. The employment of the military is a strange device. The Empire is won by non-concern. How do I know this? Thus—The more superstitious restrictions in the land the poorer the people; [^1] the more the people are concerned with the administration the more benighted the state and the clans; [^2] the more craftiness is displayed the greater the number of novelties which arise. The more legislation there is the more thieves and robbers increase.
It is for these reasons that a sage has said [^3]—‘I do nothing, but the people spontaneously reform. I love tranquillity, and the people spontaneously become upright. I have no concerns, and the people naturally grow wealthy. I am without desire, and of their own free will the people revert to primitive simplicity.’ [^4]
“Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto his stature?” The Kingdom of God is not won by anxiety. Self-assertion, desires to better clothe and feed the self, are “strange devices.” Evil is not overthrown by resistance but by submission; it is not the passive quiet of the coward, nor the sullen stolidity of the slave, but the selfless service of the Christ, which disarms the enemy. When the left cheek is voluntarily submitted for a blow like that which stings the right, when the cloak is given to him who snatches the coat, when not only is the demand for the first mile granted, but the second also, and that from sheer goodwill toward the oppressor evil becomes ashamed, it cannot understand such carelessness. “The Empire is won by non-concern.”
[^1] Where weeds abound flowers are scarce.
[^2] See chap. 36.
[^3] There were Sages before Lao-tzu, and their teachings were his, but their names have been forgotten, and their works lost.
[^4] “He who would have good government in his country must begin by putting his house in order, and to do that, he must begin by attending properly to his personal conduct.”—The Great Learning. Comp. chap. 19.
Ursula K. Le Guin
Run the country by doing what’s expected. Win the war by doing the unexpected. Control the world by doing nothing. How do I know that? By this.
The more restrictions and prohibitions in the world, the poorer people get. The more experts the country has the more of a mess it’s in. The more ingenious the skillful are, the more monstrous their inventions. The louder the call for law and order, the more the thieves and con men multiply.
So a wise leader might say: I practice inaction, and the people look after themselves. I love to be quiet, and the people themselves find justice. I don’t do business, and the people prosper on their own. I don’t have wants, and the people themselves are uncut wood.
Note UKLG: A strong political statement of the central idea of wu wei, not doing, inaction. My “monstrous” is literally “new.” New is strange, and strange is uncanny. New is bad. Lao Tzu is deeply and firmly against changing things, particularly in the name of progress. He would make an Iowa farmer look flighty. I don’t think he is exactly anti-intellectual, but he considers most uses of the intellect to be pernicious, and all plans for improving things to be disastrous. Yet he’s not a pessimist. No pessimist would say that people are able to look after themselves, be just, and prosper on their own. No anarchist can be a pessimist. Uncut wood — here likened to the human soul — the uncut, uncarved, unshaped, unpolished, native, natural stuff is better than anything that can be made of it. Anything done to it deforms and lessens it. Its potentiality is infinite. Its uses are trivial.