Chapter 38

Those with the highest virtue do not display it, and so they truly have it. Those with lower virtue try not to lose it, and so they do not really have it.

Those with the highest virtue act without purpose and have no need to act. Those with lower virtue are always acting and feel they must act.

Those with the highest benevolence act, but without need to. Those with the highest righteousness act, and feel they must.

Those with the highest sense of propriety act, and when others fail to respond, they roll up their sleeves and force compliance.

So when the Tao was lost, virtue appeared; when virtue was lost, benevolence appeared; when benevolence was lost, righteousness appeared; and when righteousness was lost, propriety appeared.

Propriety is the thinning out of loyalty and good faith, and the beginning of disorder. Quick cleverness is only a blossom of the Tao, and the beginning of foolishness.

So the great person dwells with what is solid, not what is thin; lives with the fruit, not the flower. He rejects the one and chooses the other.