Chapter 24 · Tiptoe Does Not Stand Firm

Tao Te Ching (Legge, 1891) · chapter title added by Learn the Dao

He who stands on his tiptoes does not stand firm; he who stretches his legs does not walk (easily). (So), he who displays himself does not shine; he who asserts his own views is not distinguished; he who vaunts himself does not find his merit acknowledged; he who is self-conceited has no superiority allowed to him. Such conditions, viewed from the standpoint of the Tao, are like remnants of food, or a tumour on the body, which all dislike. Hence those who pursue (the course) of the Tao do not adopt and allow them.

Up on Your Toes

Dao De Kooi — an original rendering by David Kooi

Up on your toes, you can't stand for long. Taking giant strides, you can't actually walk. Show off and nobody really sees you. Insist you're right and you lose the room. Brag and the work doesn't count for much. Strut and it won't last. From the Dao's point of view, all of that is leftovers and dead weight - the kind of thing that just makes people sick of you. So if you're running on the Dao, you skip it.

Learn the Dao is a quiet practice for learning the thing that can’t be known — committing the Tao Te Ching to memory, one line at a time.

Read a chapter. Recite the next line from memory. The app shows you, gently, what you missed — then brings each line back just before you’d forget it.

Your recall — for example

He who stands on his tiptoes — missed does not stand firm

The dotted words are the ones you missed.

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