Laozi

“There is nothing in the world more soft and weak than water, and yet for attacking things that are firm and strong there is nothing that can take precedence of it.”

“The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao. The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name.”

“The unwrought material, when divided and distributed, forms vessels. The sage, when employed, becomes the Head of all the Officers of government; and in his greatest regulations he employs no violent measures.”

“The Tao in its regular course does nothing (for the sake of doing it), and so there is nothing which it does not do.”