Tao Te Ching·Chapter 02: do not take credit

道德经 · 第二章

Tao Te Ching · Chapter 02

天下皆知美之爲美，斯惡已；皆知善之爲善，斯不善矣。

As soon as everyone in the world knows that the beautiful are beautiful,There is already ugliness.

As soon as everyone knows the able, There is ineptness.

有無之相生也，難易之相成也，長短之相形也，高下之相盈也，音聲之相和也，先后之相隨，恆也。
Determinacy and indeterminacy give rise to each other, Difficult and easy complement each other, Long and short set each other off, High and low complete each other, Refined notes and raw sounds harmonize with each other, And before and after lend sequence to each other- This is really how it all works.

是以聖人居無爲之事，行不言之教，萬物作而弗始也，爲而弗恃也，成功而弗居也。
It is for this reason that sages keep to service that does not entail coercion
And disseminate teachings that go beyond what can be said.
In all that happens, The sages develop things but do not initiate them,
They act on behalf of things but do not lay any claim to them,
They see things through to fruition but do not take credit for them.

夫唯弗居，是以弗去。
It is only because they do not take credit for them that things do not take their leave.