Laozi on the Futility of Heavy-Handed Rule

Statue of the Venerable Master (Laozi) in Quangzhou, China. Photo by Lavelk under the CC2.0 license.

Whoever undertakes to rule the kingdom and to shape it according to his whim—I foresee that he will fail to reach his goal. That is all.

The kingdom is a living being. It cannot be constructed, in truth! He who tries to manipulate it will spoil it, he who tries to put it under his power will lose it.

Therefore: Some creatures go out in front, others follow, some have warm breath, others cold, some are strong, some weak, some attain abundance, others succumb.

The wise man will accordingly forswear excess, he will avoid arrogance and not overreach.

–Laozi (老子), Daodejing (道德經) No. 29 (4th century BCE)(following the Richard Wilhelm transl. 1911)