Line by Line - Verse 64, Line 12

The sage does not act (so), and therefore does no harm;
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

The sage does not act, and so is not defeated.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Therefore, sages do not meddle and thus do not fail
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

The Masters make no effort, so they never fail.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

Again, I'm going to turn to John H. McDonald's translation because I think it makes the underlying point a bit more clear.

Therefore the Master lets things take their course and thus never fails.

This is very similar to Derek Lin's wording. When we don't meddle in the process of The Way, how could we possibly screw things up?

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