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58
The government that seems the most
unwise,
Oft goodness to the people best supplies;
That which is meddling, touching everything,
Will work but ill,
and disappointment bring.
Misery!--happiness is to be found by its side! Happiness!--misery
lurks
beneath it! Who knows what either will come to in the end?
Shall we then dispense with correction?
The (method of) correction
shall by a turn become distortion, and the good in it shall by a turn
become
evil. The delusion of the people (on this point) has indeed
subsisted for a long time.
Therefore the sage is (like)
a square which cuts no one (with its
angles); (like) a corner which injures no one (with its sharpness).
He
is straightforward, but allows himself no license; he is bright,
but does not dazzle.
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