第六十四章  慎始敬終

其安易持，其未兆易謀，其脆易泮，其微易散。為之于未有，治之于未亂。合抱之木，生于毫末；九層之臺，起于累土；千里之行，始于足下。 為者敗之，執(zhí)者失之。

是以圣人無為故無敗，無執(zhí)故無失。
民之從事，常于幾成而敗之。慎終如始，則無敗事。
以圣人欲不欲，不貴難得之貨；學(xué)不學(xué)，復(fù)眾人之所過；以輔萬物之自然而不敢為。

Careful Beginning Combne with CautiousEnding

What remains still is easy to hold. What is not yet manifest iseasy to plan for. What is brittle is easy to crack. What is minute is easy toscatter.

Handle things before they appear. Organize things before thereis confusion.

A tree with a full span's girth begins from a tiny sprout; Anine-storied terrace begins with a clod of earth. A journey of a thousand libeings at one's feet.

He who forces things to their willfails. He who grasps things loses them. The Enlightened Individuals do nothingagainst nature,

hencethey spoil nothing,

theyseize nothing,

hencethey lose nothing.

In handling things people usually fail when they are about tosucceed. Be as careful at the end as at the beginning, and there will be nofailure.

ThusEnlightened Individuals desire to be disireless

They does not value rare treasures.

They learn bythe universal intelligence,

not blinded byhuman greediness,

thus they willbe free from the common faults;

In this waythey assist all things naturally,

withoutventuring to act against the antural laws.

。

 [譯文]

事情處于穩(wěn)定時容易把握，事態(tài)尚無征兆時易于謀劃；事物脆弱階段易于化解，細微時易于消散。要在事態(tài)沒有形成氣候時就處理好，沒有形成亂象前控制它。合抱粗的大樹由嫩芽長成；九層的高臺筑成于一筐筐泥土；千里的遠行從腳下開始的。有私妄為，就容易招致失敗，把持不放容易失去。因此圣人不因私欲而作為，也就不會失??；無所執(zhí)著，也就不會落空。有些人做事，經(jīng)常在即將成功之際而敗，若能謹慎如初，就不會有失敗的結(jié)果。