Chapter 17
Part 1: Tao Ching
The Unadulterated Influence
Chapter 17Visible text2 paragraphs
In the highest antiquity, (the people) did not know that there were (their rulers). In the next age they loved them and praised them. In the next they feared them; in the next they despised them.
Thus it was that when faith (in the Dao) was deficient (in the rulers) a want of faith in them ensued (in the people).