Line by Line - Verse 53, Line 4

but people love the by-ways.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

But people love to be sidetracked.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

But people like the side paths
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

but people are easily distracted.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

Again, I think Ron Hogan has selected the operative word -- distracted -- for people in today's fast-paced modern world.

Our society is filled with distractions: money, power, status, influence, celebrity. We go running after these and more in turn. We try to snatch them up in greedy fistfuls before someone else can beat us to the punch. As soon as we tire of one distraction, we hungrily move on the next one in the hope we can gorge ourselves silly.

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