天tiān下xià之zhī至zhì柔róu，馳chí騁chěng天tiān下xià之zhī至zhì堅jiān

What does 天下之至柔，馳騁天下之至堅 (tiān xià zhī zhì róu chí chěng tiān xià zhī zhì jiān) mean?

天下之至柔，馳騁天下之至堅 (tiān xià zhī zhì róu chí chěng tiān xià zhī zhì jiān) is a line of classical verse (shīcí 詩詞). Word for word it reads "the softest thing under heaven gallops over the hardest thing under heaven." In use it means: The most yielding force in the world overcomes the most unyielding; water wears through stone. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Water note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Rat.

Literally: "the softest thing under heaven gallops over the hardest thing under heaven."

The reading

Water has no pride to protect, no position to defend. It goes where it is sent and moves by the shape of what it finds. That is how it ends up everywhere-and why everything else ends up shaped by it.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeshīcí 詩詞
• FocusPresent-minded
• Element水 Water
• Zodiac tie鼠 Year of the Rat

Source Tao Te Ching 道德經, ch. 43 (Laozi)

Sits beside

Keep reading

Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in The Way of Water, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Rat, Year of the Ox, and Year of the Tiger.