Laozi · Complete work
Chapter 12
Chapter 12 of 81. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
Open the complete readerOriginal Classical Chinese
五色令人目盲；五音令人耳聾；五味令人口爽；馳騁田獵，令人心發狂；難得之貨，令人行妨。是以聖人為腹不為目，故去彼取此。
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the original source for fidelity, modern clarity, beauty, symbolism, and structure.
The five colors make the eyes blind;The five tones make the ears deaf;The five flavors make the mouth lose its taste;Racing and galloping in the hunt make the heart run wild;Goods hard to obtain obstruct a person’s conduct.Therefore the sage serves the belly, not the eye; so he leaves that and takes this.
OpenTao
Complete CC BY 4.0 translation made directly from the received Chinese text; source line structure preserved.
Too much color blinds the eye;too much music deafens the ear;too much flavor dulls the palate;racing at full gallop in the chase drives the heart mad;rare goods corrupt people’s conduct.So the sage cares for the belly, not the eye—choosing what nourishes over what dazzles.
James Legge (1891)
Complete public-domain translation made directly from the original source text.
1.
Colour's five hues from th' eyes their sight will take;Music's five notes the ears as deaf can make;The flavours five deprive the mouth of taste;The chariot course, and the wild hunting wasteMake mad the mind; and objects rare and strange,Sought for, men's conduct will to evil change.
2. Therefore the sage seeks to satisfy (the craving of) the belly, and not the (insatiable longing of the) eyes. He puts from him the latter, and prefers to seek the former.