The blessings and misfortunes of the Tao depend on each other

When government is simple and unpretentious, the people are honest and simple.  
When government is sharp and prying, the people become cunning and shifty.

Disaster is what good fortune leans on; good fortune is what disaster hides within.  
Who can know where it all ends? Is there no fixed standard?  
The upright turns into the strange, and the good turns into something monstrous.  
People have been confused about this for a long time.

So the sage is square but does not cut,  
has edges but does not wound,  
is straight but not reckless,  
shines but does not dazzle.