Line by Line - Verse 64, Line 14

(But) people in their conduct of affairs are constantly ruining them when they are on the eve of success.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

People usually fail when they are on the verge of success.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

People, in handling affairs
Often come close to completion and fail
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

People often screw up when the job's nearly done.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

As this line indicates, we each are often our own worst enemy! We go tearing off after some objective, but the closer we get to it, the more tired we become. Just when it seems within our grasp, we collapse in exhaustion and, when we regain our strength, we head off toward a new gambit.

I think this happens quite often because we really don't know what it is that we want from life. We get crazy ideas in our head and, without thinking through all the ramifications, we spend a good deal of our time chasing little more than shadows.

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