Chapter Thirteen

Most people fret about themselves and their status,
but you don't have to do this.

What is success and what is failure?

If you have prestige and favor,
all you worry about is that it'll get taken away.
And if you have a lowly place,
you are still basically afraid.
So both, at the root, make for fear.

What does it mean that success is a problem?

It means people are too bound up in themselves.
If they weren't so self-obsessed
they'd have no need to be worried.

If you can put yourself aside
then you can do things for the whole of the world.
And if you love the world, like this
then you are ready to serve it.

-from the Tao Te Ching