There is nothing in the World as soft and flexible as water
It attacks the hardest and the strongest things, and they cannot bear it!
Nothing can take its place

The entire World knows the weak beats the strong and the soft the hard
And yet nobody seems able to put it into practice

So the Sage says:
"Who accepts the nation's most base
Is hailed lord of the salt of the earth!
Who accepts the nation's ill-omened
Is hailed emperor of the World"

True words tend to be paradoxical

天下莫柔弱於水
而攻堅強者莫之能勝
以其無以易之

弱之勝強
柔之勝剛
天下莫不知
莫能行

是以聖人云
受國之垢
是謂社稷主
受國不祥
是為天下王

正言若反