At rest is easy to hold.

Not yet impossible is easy to plan.

Brittle is easy to break.

Fine is easy to scatter.

...

Create before it exists.

Lead before it goes astray.

...

A tree is too big to embrace

Is born from a slender shoot.

A nine-storey tower

Rises from a pile of earth.

A thousand-mile journey

Begins with a single step.

...

Act and you ruin it.

Grasp and you lose it.

Therefore the Sage

Does not act

And so does not ruin

Does not grasp

And so does not lose.