The Great Tao is universal like a flood.
How can it be turned to the right or to the left?
All creatures depend on it,
And it denies nothing to anyone.
It does its work,
But it makes no claim for itself.
It clothes and feeds all,
But it does not lord it over them:
Thus, it may be called “the Little.”
All things return to it as their home,
But it does not lord it over them:
Thus, it may be called “the Great.”
It is just because it does not wish to be great
That its greatness is fully realized.