Bit by Bit - Chapter 24, Part 24

Trey Smith

Therefore the Holy Man hates to see the crowd arriving, and if it does arrive, he does not try to be friendly with it; not being friendly with it, he naturally does nothing to benefit it. So he makes sure that there is nothing he is very close to, and nothing he is very distant with. Embracing virtue, infused with harmony, he follows along with the world - this is what is called the True Man. He leaves wisdom to the ants, takes his cue from the fishes, leaves willfulness to the mutton.
~ Burton Watson translation ~

I take this to mean that a genuinely "holy" individual would not promote themselves as being "holy" and would not desire followers to worship them. (Sort of the opposite of how many holy men purportedly present themselves to the world.)

To view the Index page for this series, go here.