老子《道德经》英译第二十三章

　　【原文】

　　希言自然。

　　故飘风不终朝，骤雨不终日。孰为此者?天地。天地尚不能久，而况于人乎?

　　故从事于道者，同于道;德者，同于德;失者，同于失。同于道者，道亦乐得之;同于德者，德亦乐得之;同于失者，失亦乐得之。

　　信不足焉，有不信焉。

　　【现代汉语】

　　(统治阶层)应顺应自然之道，减少政令不扰民，让民众自我发展。

　　狂风不会持续整个白昼，暴雨不会终日不停。这是什么原因呢?是天地使然。天地的狂暴都不能持久，更何况人呢(统治者)?

　　所以依‘道’行事的人，其行为符合‘道’的规律;依德行事的人，其行为符合德的规范;违背道的规律和德的规范，就会失势于天下。行为符合道的规律的人，道就会亲近他;行为符合德之规范的人，德就会亲近他;违背道的规律、德的规范的人，失败就离他不远了。

　　统治者没有足够的诚信，失信于民就是必然的结果了。

　　【英译】

　　(The governor) To obey the principle of Tao’s, do not disorder people with multifarious government order and help them in self-development.

　　The most violent wind can not last for a whole morning; rainstorm can not last for all day long. What’s the reason for that? Heaven and earth cause it like that.

　　Heaven and earth can not be so ruthless and cruel for long time, how much less can human.

　　Therefore the man who acts as the rules of Tao’s, his behaviors accord with Tao, and

　　then, Tao will favor him; the man who acts as criterion of virtue, his behaviors accord with virtue, then, virtue will favor him; the man who violates above two principles, he will leads himself to lose at last.

　　Breaks promise to people make it be inevitable that the governor have no sufficient good faith.