Whoever Counsels a Ruler by the Way
The Text
以道佐人主者，不以兵强天下。其事好还。师之所处，荆棘生焉。大军之后，必有凶年。善有果而已，不敢以取强。果而勿矜，果而勿伐，果而勿强。果而不得已，果而勿强。物壮则老，是谓不道，不道早已。
Whoever counsels a ruler by the way does not conquer the world by force of arms — such things repay themselves. Where armies have camped, thorns and thistles grow. After a great war, famine years follow. The good resolve — that is all; they dare not press for more. Resolve without boast, without pride, without triumph; resolve because there is no choice. Things flourish and then age — this is called not the way. What is not the way ends early.
Reading it
The chapter is almost agrarian in its thinking: armies leave fields weeded to thorns, and victory has a harvest schedule nobody wants. Daring not to press — stopping at necessity — is presented as the only durable form of winning.
几乎是农业思维：军队宿营之处长满荆棘，胜利有没人想要的收成表。「果而勿强」——停在必需处——是唯一可持续的赢法。
Win one disagreement completely this week — then do not use the win.
这周彻底赢下一次分歧——然后不要用这个赢。