Softness and weakness
The Dao De Jing says the soft and weak overcome the hard and strong (chapters 36, 78): weakness is the use of the Way (chapter 40), the living are soft and the dead are stiff (chapter 76), and the newborn, with soft sinews, has a firm grip (chapter 55).
The rule is stated in chapter 36: “The soft and weak overcome the hard and strong.” (柔弱胜刚强) Chapter 40 makes it part of the Way itself: “weakness is the use of the Way.” Chapter 52 turns it around: “keeping to the soft is called strength.”
The book's evidence is living things. Chapter 76: “People are soft and weak when alive, hard and stiff when dead”, and grass and trees are soft when alive, “dry and withered when dead”; so “the soft and weak are companions of life.” The newborn of chapter 55 has the same mark: “His bones are weak, his sinews soft, yet his grip is firm.” Chapter 10 asks: “Make your breathing soft, can that make you a newborn child?” Hardness, in turn, does not last: “Things with strength ultimately wither” (chapters 30 and 55), and “the violent do not die a natural death” (chapter 42).
Two images carry the theme further: water and the female. Chapter 43 says that “The softest thing in the world runs through the hardest thing in the world”, and chapter 78 names water as the softest and weakest of all, yet unsurpassed against the hard. In chapter 61 “The female always overcomes the male by stillness”, and chapter 28 begins: “Know masculinity, abide by femininity, be as the world's stream.”
Softness also means yielding. Chapter 22 opens: “The bent is made whole, the crooked is straightened”. Chapter 36 adds that “what is to be weakened must first be strengthened”, and chapter 76 ends: “The hard and great take the lower place; the soft and weak take the higher place.” Chapter 78 says why the lesson needs repeating: “everyone in the world knows it, yet no one can practice it.”
| Chapter | What it says |
|---|---|
| Chapter 10 载营魄抱 | Making the breath soft is asked as a question: can it make you a newborn child? |
| Chapter 22 曲则全枉 | What bends is made whole and what is hollow is filled. |
| Chapter 28 知其雄守 | Know the male, keep to the female, and return to being a newborn. |
| Chapter 30 以道佐人 | Things with strength wither, and what is not the Way soon ends. |
| Chapter 36 将欲歙之 | What is to be weakened must first be strengthened, and the soft and weak overcome the hard and strong. |
| Chapter 40 反者道之 | Weakness is the use of the Way, as returning is its movement. |
| Chapter 42 道生一 | The violent do not die a natural death, and this is the father of the teaching. |
| Chapter 43 天下之至 | The softest thing in the world runs through the hardest, which shows the benefit of non-action. |
| Chapter 52 天下有始 | Keeping to the soft is called strength. |
| Chapter 55 含德之厚 | The newborn's bones are weak and sinews soft, yet his grip is firm; forcing life is ill-omened, and strength withers. |
| Chapter 61 大国者下 | The female overcomes the male by stillness and takes the lower place. |
| Chapter 76 人之生也 | The living are soft and weak, the dead hard and stiff: softness is the companion of life, and the rigid army does not win. |
| Chapter 78 天下莫柔 | Nothing is softer or weaker than water, yet nothing beats it against the hard; everyone knows it, no one practices it. |
Every line on the theme
Chapter 10
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专气致柔，
Make your breathing soft,
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能婴儿乎？
can that make you a newborn child?
Chapter 22
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曲则全，枉则直，
The bent is made whole, the crooked is straightened,
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洼则盈，敝则新，
the hole is filled, the worn-out is renewed,
Chapter 28
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知其雄，守其雌，为天下溪。
Know masculinity, abide by femininity, be as the world's stream.
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为天下溪，常德不离，
Be as the world's stream, and the enduring virtue shall not fade,
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复归于婴儿。
ever returning to the newborn.
Chapter 30
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物壮则老，
Things with strength ultimately wither,
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是谓不道，不道早已。
this is not the Way, and what is not the Way soon ends.
Chapter 36
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将欲歙之，必固张之；
What is to be shrunk must first be stretched;
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将欲弱之，必固强之；
what is to be weakened must first be strengthened;
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将欲废之，必固兴之；
what is to be cast down must first be raised up;
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将欲夺之，必固与之，
what is to be taken must first be given.
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是谓微明。
This is called subtle insight.
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柔弱胜刚强。
The soft and weak overcome the hard and strong.
Chapter 40
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反者，道之动；
Returning is the movement of the Way;
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弱者，道之用。
weakness is the use of the Way.
Chapter 42
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强梁者不得其死，
the violent do not die a natural death.
Chapter 43
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天下之至柔，驰骋天下之至坚。
The softest thing in the world runs through the hardest thing in the world.
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无有入无间，
What has no substance enters where there is no gap.
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吾是以知无为之有益。
From this I know the benefit of non-action.
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不言之教，无为之益，
Teaching without words, the benefit of non-action:
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天下希及之。
few in the world attain them.
Chapter 52
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见小曰明，守柔曰强。
Seeing the small is called clarity; keeping to the soft is called strength.
Chapter 55
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含德之厚，比于赤子。
One who holds virtue in fullness is like a newborn child.
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蜂虿虺蛇不螫，猛兽不据，
Wasps, scorpions and snakes do not sting him, wild beasts do not seize him,
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攫鸟不搏。
birds of prey do not strike him.
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骨弱筋柔而握固。
His bones are weak, his sinews soft, yet his grip is firm.
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益生曰祥。
Forcing life is called ill-omened.
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心使气曰强。
The mind driving the breath is called forcing.
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物壮则老，
Things with strength ultimately wither,
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是谓不道，
this is not the Way,
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不道早已。
and what is not the Way soon ends.
Chapter 61
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天下之牝，牝常以静胜牡，
It is the female of the world. The female always overcomes the male by stillness;
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以静为下。
by stillness she takes the lower place.
Chapter 76
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人之生也柔弱，其死也坚强。
People are soft and weak when alive, hard and stiff when dead.
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万物草木之生也柔脆，
The myriad things, grass and trees, are soft and tender when alive,
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其死也枯槁。
dry and withered when dead.
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故坚强者死之徒，
So the hard and stiff are companions of death;
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柔弱者生之徒。
the soft and weak are companions of life.
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是以兵强则不胜，
So an army that is rigid will not win;
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木强则兵。
a tree that is rigid will be cut down.
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强大处下，柔弱处上。
The hard and great take the lower place; the soft and weak take the higher place.
Chapter 78
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天下莫柔弱于水，
Nothing in the world is softer or weaker than water,
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而攻坚强者，莫之能胜，
yet for attacking the hard and strong, nothing surpasses it,
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其无以易之。
for nothing can take its place.
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弱之胜强，
The weak overcomes the strong,
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柔之胜刚，
the soft overcomes the hard:
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天下莫不知莫能行。
everyone in the world knows it, yet no one can practice it.