Laozi · Complete work
Chapter 9
Chapter 9 of 81. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
Open the complete readerOriginal Classical Chinese
持而盈之，不如其已；揣而銳之，不可長保。金玉滿堂，莫之能守；富貴而驕，自遺其咎。功遂身退天之道。
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the original source for fidelity, modern clarity, beauty, symbolism, and structure.
To hold and fill to overflowing is not as good as stopping.To hammer and sharpen a blade cannot preserve it for long.When gold and jade fill the hall, no one can guard them.Rich and honored, then arrogant—you bequeath calamity to yourself.When the work is fulfilled, withdraw the self: this is heaven’s Way.
OpenTao
Complete CC BY 4.0 translation made directly from the received Chinese text; source line structure preserved.
If you keep filling the vessel in your hand, it is better to stop short of the brim.Work a blade to too fine an edge, and its sharpness will not last.Fill a hall with gold and jade, and no one can keep it safe.Let wealth and rank make you proud, and calamity is the legacy you leave yourself.The work complete, step away: this is the way of heaven.
James Legge (1891)
Complete public-domain translation made directly from the original source text.
1. It is better to leave a vessel unfilled, than to attempt to carry it when it is full. If you keep feeling a point that has been sharpened, the point cannot long preserve its sharpness.
2. When gold and jade fill the hall, their possessor cannot keep them safe. When wealth and honours lead to arrogancy, this brings its evil on itself. When the work is done, and one's name is becoming distinguished, to withdraw into obscurity is the way of Heaven.