Verse 9

Better to stop in time than to fill to the brim.
Hone a blade to the sharpest point, and it will soon be blunt.

Fill your house with gold and jade, and no one can protect it.
Be prideful about wealth and position, and you bring disasters upon yourself.

Retire when the work is done.
This is the way of heaven.
 

Verse 10

While carrying your active life on your head
can you embrace the quiet spirit in your arms, and not let go?

While being fully focused on your vital breath
can you make it soft like that of a newborn babe?

While cleaning your inner mirror
can you leave it without blemish?

While loving the people and ruling the country
can you dispense with cleverness?

While opening and closing the gates of heaven
can you be like a mother bird?

While penetrating the four quarters with your insight
can you remain simple?

Help the people live!
Nourish the people!

Help them live yet lay no claim to them.
Benefit them yet seek no gratitude.

Guide them yet do not control them.
This is called the hidden Virtue.
 

Verse 11

Thirty spokes connect to the wheel’s hub;
yet, it is the centre hole that makes it useful.

Clay is shaped into a vessel;
yet, it is the emptiness within that makes it useful.

Doors and windows are cut for a room;
yet it is the space where there is nothing that makes it useful.

Therefore, though advantage comes from what is;
usefulness comes from what is not.

Verse 12

The five colours blind the eye.
The five notes deafen the ear.
The five flavours dull the palate.

Racing and hunting drive the heart wild.
Goods that are hard to obtain hinder the journey.

Therefore, the True Person
is guided more by the belly than the eye,
and prefers this within to that without.