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Thursday, March 1, 2012

Line by Line - Verse 61, Line 10

In the one case the abasement leads to gaining adherents,
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Therefore those who would conquer must yield,
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

Thus one uses the lower position to take
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

[No corresponding line]
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~
It has been said that honey attracts more flies than vinegar! In my mind, that says approximately the same thing as this line.

I should note, however, that demurring -- simply as a strategy to get what we desire -- is like trying to attract flies with saccharin. The smart fly knows the difference between the imitation and the real thing!

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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