第七十五章  民生為上

民之饑，以其上食稅之多，是以饑。 民之難治，以其上之有為，是以難治。 民之輕死，以其上求生之厚，是以輕死。 夫唯無(wú)以生為者，是賢于貴生。

Actingfor People

People are hungry, because rulers eat too much tax-grain. That is whypeople are starving.

People are hard to govern, because rulers interfere too much. That is whythey are hard to govern.

People do not care about death, because rulers demand too much forthemselves living little room for the people. Only those who govern witnin theNature Laws are the rulers who take the benefits of the people as priority.

[譯文]

百姓之所以忍饑挨餓，是因?yàn)榻y(tǒng)治者榨取吞噬賦稅過(guò)多，因此百姓才食不果腹。百姓之所以難治理，是因?yàn)榻y(tǒng)治者強(qiáng)作妄為，因此難以管治。百姓挺而走險(xiǎn)，是因?yàn)榻y(tǒng)治者奢華無(wú)度，難以為生才不顧性命。

只有尊道貴德順應(yīng)民意的人，才是賢良而重視民生的執(zhí)政者。