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57
A state may be ruled by (measures
of) correction; weapons of
war may be used with crafty dexterity; (but) the kingdom is made one's
own (only) by freedom
from action and purpose.
How do I know that it is so? By these facts:--In the kingdom the
multiplication of prohibitive
enactments increases the poverty of the
people; the more implements to add to their profit that the people
have, the
greater disorder is there in the state and clan; the more
acts of crafty dexterity that men possess, the more do strange
contrivances
appear; the more display there is of legislation, the
more thieves and robbers there are.
Therefore
a sage has said, 'I will do nothing (of purpose), and the
people will be transformed of themselves; I will be fond of keeping
still,
and the people will of themselves become correct. I will take
no trouble about it, and the people will of themselves become
rich; I
will manifest no ambition, and the people will of themselves attain to
the primitive simplicity.'
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