Commentary...........................

"We cannot control something as insignificant as a mustard seed.  How can we control something as big as the world?"
-Sung Ch'ang-Hsing

"Spiritual things respond to stillness.  They cannot be controlled with force."
-Ho-Shang Kung

"The sage considers his body transitory and the world its temporary lodging.  How can he rule what is not his and lose the true and lasting Way?"
-Li Hsi-Chai

"The interchange of yin and yang, of high and low, of great and small is the way things are and cannot be avoided.  Fools are selfish.  They insist on having their own way and meet with disaster.  The sage knows he cannot oppose things.   He agrees with whatever he meets.  He eliminates extremes and thereby keeps the world from harm."
-Su Ch'e

"The sage gets rid of extremes with kindness.  He gets rid of extravagance with simplicity. He gets rid of excess with humility.  By means of these three, the sage governs the world."
-Lu Nung-Shih

"The sage penetrates the nature and condition of others.  Hence he responds to them without force and follows them without effort.  He eliminates whatever misleads or confuses them.  Hence their minds become clear, and each realizes his own nature."
-Wang Pi

All these quotes (and more) come from the commentary attached to each Chapter of  Red Pine's translation of the Tao