天地不仁，
以萬物為芻狗；
聖人不仁，
以百姓為芻狗。

天地之間，
其猶橐籥乎？

虛而不屈，
動而愈出。

多言數窮，
不如守中。

Heaven & earth are impartial,
they treat ten-thousand things
like straw dogs;
Sages are impartial,
they treat one-hundred people
like straw dogs.

Between heaven & earth,
is it like a bellows?

Emptied, yet not used up,
used, yet more emerges.

Regard many words as exhausting,
better to observe the center.