36. To Shrink Must First Expand

What is in the end to be shrunk
Must first be stretched.
Whatever is to be weakened
Must begin by being made strong.
What is to be overthrown
Must begin by being set up.
He who would be a taker
Must begin as a giver.
This is called “dimming” one’s light.
It is thus that the soft overcomes the hard
And the weak, the strong.
“It is best to leave the fish down in his pool;
Best to leave the State’s sharpest weapons wherenone can see them.”