There is a saying among soldiers:
I dare not make the first move but would rather play the guest;
I dare not advance an inch but would rather withdraw a foot.
This is called marching without appearing to move,
Rolling up your sleeves without showing your arm,
Capturing the enemy without attacking,
Being armed without weapons.
There is no greater catastrophe than underestimating the enemy.
By underestimating the enemy, I almost lost what I value.

Therefore when the battle is joined,
The underdog will win.

Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching
Chapter 14

Translated by Gia-Fu Feng  馮家福  (1919–1985) and Jane English (1942 – )
Vintage Books, 1989

Look, it cannot be seen – it is beyond form.
Listen, it cannot be heard – it is beyond sound.
Grasp, it cannot be held – it is intangible.
These three are indefinable;
Therefore they are joined in one.

From above it is not bright;
From below it is not dark:
An unbroken thread beyond description.
It returns to nothingness.
The form of the formless,
The image of the imageless,
It is called indefinable and beyond imagination.

Stand before it and there is no beginning.
Follow it and there is no end.
Stay with the ancient Tao,
Move with the present.

Knowing the ancient beginning is the essence of Tao.

Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching
Chapter 14

Translated by Gia-Fu Feng  馮家福  (1919–1985) and Jane English (1942 – )
Vintage Books, 1989

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.

The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and Earth.
The named is the mother of the ten thousand things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one sees the manifestations.
These two spring from the same source but differ in name;
this appears as darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery.

Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching

Something mysteriously formed,
Born before heaven and Earth.
In the silence and the void,
Standing alone and unchanging,
Ever present and in motion.
Perhaps it is the mother of ten thousand things.
I do not know its name
Call it Tao.
For lack of a better word, I call it great.

Being great, it flows
It flows far away.

Having gone far, it returns.

Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching
Chapter 25

Translated by Gia-Fu Feng  馮家福  (1919–1985) and Jane English (1942 – )
Vintage Books, 1989