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將欲取天下而為之，吾見其不得已。天下神器，不可為也。為者敗之，執者失之。故物或行或隨，或歔或吹，或强或羸，或挫或隳。是以聖人去甚，去奢，去泰。One who wants to take the world and work on it, I see that he will not succeed. The world is a sacred vessel; it cannot be worked on. Whoever works on it ruins it; whoever grasps it loses it. So among things some lead and some follow, some breathe gently and some blow hard, some are strong and some weak, some break and some fall. Therefore the sage avoids the extreme, the extravagant, and the excessive.
白Plain Chinese
想要取得天下又凭自己的意志去做，我看他是达不到的。天下是神圣的器物，不可以强行作为。强行作为的就会失败，强行把持的就会失去。所以万物有的前行，有的后随，有的轻嘘，有的急吹，有的强壮，有的羸弱，有的挫折，有的毁坏。因此圣人去除极端，去除奢侈，去除过度。
Draft plain-Chinese rendering following Wang Bi; it will be checked when the chapter is taught.
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