Line by Line - Verse 4, Line 3

We should blunt our sharp points,
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Blunt the sharpness,
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

It blunts the sharpness
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

(No corresponding line)
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

When I was a young lad in elementary school, one of the things I and my fellow classmates liked to do was sharpen our pencils to the finest point. There we would stand turning the handle on the pencil sharpener -- yes, back in the days before electric models -- and then we'd pull the pencil out every few turns to check on our progress. Once it looked like it could get no sharper, we would display it to the oohs and aahs of our cohorts.

Of course, the moment we tried to write with our piece of graphite perfection, the point would break off. It was maddening! All that work for naught. So, this would lead to another trip to the pencil sharpener.

The lesson here should be obvious. While a somewhat sharp point makes writing easier, a too sharp of a point makes it impossible.

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