Laozi · Complete work
Chapter 7
Chapter 7 of 81. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
Open the complete readerOriginal Classical Chinese
天長地久。天地所以能長且久者，以其不自生，故能長生。是以聖人後其身而身先；外其身而身存。非以其無私耶？故能成其私。
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the original source for fidelity, modern clarity, beauty, symbolism, and structure.
Heaven is long-lasting; earth endures.Heaven and earth can be long-lasting and enduring because they do not live for themselves; therefore they can long endure.Thus the sage puts himself behind, yet finds himself before;He sets himself outside, yet his self remains.Is it not because he has no private ends?Therefore he can fulfill what is his own.
OpenTao
Complete CC BY 4.0 translation made directly from the received Chinese text; source line structure preserved.
Heaven lasts; earth endures.Heaven and earth endure because they do not live for themselves; therefore their life lasts.So the sage puts himself last and comes first;he sets his own life aside, and it survives.Is this not because he has no private interest?And so he can fulfill his own interest.
James Legge (1891)
Complete public-domain translation made directly from the original source text.
1. Heaven is long-enduring and earth continues long. The reason why heaven and earth are able to endure and continue thus long is because they do not live of, or for, themselves. This is how they are able to continue and endure.
2. Therefore the sage puts his own person last, and yet it is found in the foremost place; he treats his person as if it were foreign to him, and yet that person is preserved. Is it not because he has no personal and private ends, that therefore such ends are realised?