Chapter 29

將欲取天下而為之，吾見其不得已。
天下神器，不可為也，不可執也。
為者敗之，執者失之。
故物或行或隨，或噓或吹，或強或羸，或載或隳，是以聖人去甚，去奢，去泰。

Those who would take the world and work on it: I see that they will not succeed.
The world is a sacred vessel; it cannot be worked on, it cannot be grasped.
Whoever works on it ruins it; whoever grasps it loses it.
For things now lead and now follow, now breathe warm and now blow cold, now are strong and now are weak, now carry and now fall. That is why the sage discards excess, discards extravagance, discards arrogance.