Chapter 72 · When the People Fear No Longer

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

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The chapter’s first line

When the people do not fear what they ought to fear,

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This chapter in plain modern English — David Kooi’s rendering ↓

When the people do not fear what they ought to fear, that which is their great dread will come on them. Let them not thoughtlessly indulge themselves in their ordinary life; let them not act as if weary of what that life depends on. It is by avoiding such indulgence that such weariness does not arise. Therefore the sage knows (these things) of himself, but does not parade (his knowledge); loves, but does not (appear to set a) value on, himself. And thus he puts the latter alternative away and makes choice of the former.

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Chapter 72, in a second rendering

Right When the Big Trouble Shows Up

Dao De Kooi — an original rendering by David Kooi

When people stop being scared of your power, that's right when the really big trouble shows up. Don't crowd them out of their homes. Don't grind down their lives. Don't grind them down and they won't get sick of you. So the steady hand knows their own worth but doesn't put it on display, thinks well of themselves but doesn't lord it. Drops the one, keeps the other.

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