Chapter LXXIX
CHAPTER LXXIX.
To compromise a great hate leaves ill-will behind; that only is a blessing which produces tranquillity.
Therefore the Holy Man does not pry into other people's affairs, 1 even when he holds the left-hand bond, 2 possessing the attributes of the Tao, he quietly holds his own; he who lacks the qualities of Tao strives to put everybody right. 3
It is heaven's way to be without favorites, 4 and to be always on the side of the good man. 5
The wise man is more concerned with the steadiness and direction of his own thoughts than with the actions of others. By his care to be himself unsullied to the very innermost recesses of his being, he purifies the atmosphere wherever he goes, and accomplishes more than he could were he ever reproaching what he considers untimely. Therefore the cry of the Hebrew prophet, "Be ye clean ye that bear the vessels of the Lord." (Isa. lii, 11.)