Sunday, August 19, 2012

Line by Line - Verse 81, Line 1

Sincere words are not fine;
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Truthful words are not beautiful.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

True words are not beautiful
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

The truth isn't flashy.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
Actually, the truth CAN be a beautiful thing, but I think that the point here is about manipulation and flattery. When we dress up the truth to win plaudits or avoid punishment, our concern isn't with the truth as we see it at all. No, our focus is on ourselves and what we THINK we can get out of the situation.

To view the Index page for this series to see what you may have missed or would like to read again, go here.

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