Chapter 57
Governing with Simplicity
以正治国，以奇用兵，以无事取天下。
吾何以知其然哉？以此：天下多忌讳，而民弥贫；
人多利器，国家滋昏；
人多伎巧，奇物滋起；
法令滋彰，盗贼多有。
故圣人云：我无为，而民自化；
我好静，而民自正；
我无事，而民自富；
我无欲，而民自朴。
James Legge · 1891 · Public domain
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.'