Waley
The strategists have the sayings: “When you doubt your ability to meet the enemy’s attack, Take the offensive yourself” And “If you doubt your ability to advance an inch, then retreat a foot”. This latter is what we call to march without moving, To roll the sleeve, but present no bare arm, The hand that seems to hold, yet had no weapon in it, A host that can confront, yet presents no battle-front. Now the greatest of all calamities is to attack and find no enemy. I can have no enemy (…)
Excertos de obras literárias, cênicas e gráficas, além de crítica literária, com foco no imaginal mitográfico, lendário e fantástico.
Matérias mais recentes
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LXIX - Céder vaut mieux que triompher
27 de fevereiro de 2018 -
LXVIII - L’art de ne pas lutter
27 de fevereiro de 2018Waley
The best charioteers do not rush ahead; The best fighters do not make displays of wrath. The greatest conqueror wins without joining issue; The best user of men acts as though he were their inferior. This is called the power that comes of not contending, Is called the capacity to use men, The secret of being mated to heaven, to what was of old.
Wieger
A. Que celui qui commande, ne pense pas que c’est la tactique, la valeur, l’effort, qui donnent la victoire.
B. C’est en se (…) -
LXVII - La charité, la simplicité, l’humilité
27 de fevereiro de 2018Waley
Every one under heaven says that our Way is greatly like folly. But it is just because it is great, that it seems like folly. As for things that do not seem like folly — well, There can be no question about their smallness! Here are my three treasures. Guard and keep them! The first is pity; The second, frugality; The third, refusal to be “foremost of all things under heaven.” For only he that pities is truly able to be brave; Only he that is frugal is able to be profuse. Only he (…) -
LXVI - Le Sage ne s’oppose à personne
27 de fevereiro de 2018Waley
How did the great rivers and seas get their kingship Over the hundred lesser streams? Through the merit of being lower than they; That was how they got their kingship. Therefore the Sage In order to be above the people Must speak as though he were lower than the people. In order to guide them He must put himself behind them. Only thus can the Sage be on top and the people not be crushed by his weight. Only thus can he guide, and the people not be led into harm Indeed in this way (…) -
LXV - Tenir le peuple dans l’ignorance
27 de fevereiro de 2018Waley
In the days of old those who practiced Tao with success did not, By means of it, Enlighten the people, but on the contrary sought to make them ignorant. The more knowledge people have, the harder they are to rule. Those who seek to rule by giving knowledge Are like bandits preying on the land. Those who rule without giving knowledge Bring a stock of good fortune to the land. To have understood the difference between these who things Is to have a test and standard To be always able to (…) -
LXIV - Le Saint désire le non désirer
27 de fevereiro de 2018Waley
“What stays still is easy to hold; Before there has been an omen it is easy to lay plans. What is tender is easily torn, What is minute is easy to scatter.” Deal with things in their state of not-yet-being, Put them in order before they have got into confusion. For “the tree big as a man’s embrace began as a tiny sprout, The tower nine storeys high began with a heap of earth, The journey of a thousand leagues began with what was under the feet”. He who acts, harms; he who grabs, lets (…) -
LXIII - Agir comme si l’on n’agissait pas...
27 de fevereiro de 2018Waley
It acts without action, does without doing, Finds flavour in what is flavourless, Can make the small great and the few many, “Requites injuries with good deeds, Deals with the hard while it is still easy, With the great while it is still small.” In the governance of empire everything difficult Must be dealt with while it is still easy, Everything great must be dealt with while it is still small. Therefore the Sage never has to deal with the great; And so achieves greatness. But again (…) -
LXII - La Voie est la condition de tous les hommes
27 de fevereiro de 2018Waley
Tao in the Universe is like the south-west corner in the house. It is the treasure of the good man, The support of the bad. There is a traffic in speakers of fine words; Persons of grave demeanour are accepted as gifts; Even the bad let slip no opportunity to acquire them. Therefore on the day of an Emperor’s enthronement Or at the installation of the three officers of State Rather than send a team of four horses, preceded by a disc of jade, Better were it, as can be done without (…) -
LXI - La grandeur s’identifie à la douceur
26 de fevereiro de 2018Waley
A large kingdom must be like the low ground towards which all streams flows down. It must be a point towards which all things under heaven converge. Its part must be that of the female in its dealings with all things under heaven.
The female by quiescence conquers the male; by quiescence gets underneath. If a large kingdom can in the same way succeed in getting underneath a small kingdom Then it will win the adherence of the small kingdom; And it is because small kingdoms are by (…) -
LX - Pour gouverner un grand État...
26 de fevereiro de 2018Waley
Ruling a large kingdom is indeed like cooking small fish. They who by Tao ruled all that is under heaven Did not let an evil spirit within them display its powers. Nay, it was not only that the evil spirit did not display its powers; Neither was the Sage’s good spirit used to the hurt of other men. Nor was it only that his good spirit was not used to harm other men, The Sage himself was thus saved from harm. And so, each being saved from harm, Their “powers” could converge towards a (…)
