When government is pensive and withdrawn
people are pure and simple.
When government is confident and effective
people are cunning and secretive.
Prosperity springs from calamity
and calamity lurks in prosperity.
Who knows where it will all end
without leaders of principle?
And principle always reverts to sinister trickery,
virtue to depraved sorcery.
People have been confused for such a long long time.
That’s why a sage is sharp but never cuts,
austere but never grates,
forthright but never provokes,
bright but never dazzles.