A Leader of Men

“One who would guide a leader of men in the uses of life

Will warn him against the use of arms for conquest.

Weapons often turn upon the wielder,

An army’s harvest is a waste of thorns,

Conscription of a multitude of men

Drains the next year dry.

A good general, daring to march, dares also to halt,

Will never press his triumph beyond need.

What he must do he does but not for glory,

What he must do he does but not for show,

What he must do he does but not for self;

He has done it because it had to be done,

Not from a hot head.

Let life ripen and then fall,

Force is not the way at all:

Deny the way of life and you are dead.”

Lao Tzu