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.