Chapter 27

善行，無轍跡，善言，無瑕謫；
善數，不用籌策；
善閉，無關楗而不可開，善結，無繩約而不可解。
是以聖人常善救人，故無棄人；
常善救物，故無棄物。
是謂襲明。
故善人者，不善人之師；
不善人者，善人之資。
不貴其師，不愛其資，雖智大迷，是謂要妙。

Good walking leaves no tracks; good speaking leaves no flaw to fault;
good counting needs no counting rods;
good closing needs no bolt, yet cannot be opened; good tying needs no cord, yet cannot be undone.
That is why the sage is always good at saving people, and so no one is cast away;
always good at saving things, and so nothing is cast away.
This is called inheriting clarity.
So the good man is the teacher of the man who is not good;
the man who is not good is the good man’s material.
Not to value the teacher, not to care for the material: however clever, one is greatly lost. This is called the essential wonder.