Line by Line - Verse 63, Line 13

he who is continually thinking things easy is sure to find them difficult.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Taking things lightly results in great difficulty.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

One who sees many easy tasks must encounter much difficulty
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

and don't underestimate the task:
You'll only make things harder for yourself.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

For those of you with children, I'm fairly sure you understand this line very well! While I can't relate to it as a parent, I can remember myself as a teenager. I always seemed to think almost any project I undertook was "in the bag," only to discover that I really had no clue as to what I was doing!

This is not to suggest that we outgrow this tendency -- there are still times that I think I have all my ducks in a row when I actually don't -- but it seems far more prevalent to me for youth under the age of 18!

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