Humane Virtue
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執大象，天下往。往而不害，安平太。樂與餌，過客止。道之出口，淡乎其無味，視之不足見，聽之不足聞，用之不可既。
Hold to the great image, and the world will go to you. They go to you and come to no harm: there is safety, calm, and great peace. For music and fine food, the passing guest stops. When the Way comes out of the mouth, how bland it is! It has no flavor. Look at it, and there is not enough to see; listen to it, and there is not enough to hear; use it, and it can never be used up.
The Way is compared to bland food next to music: unremarkable to taste, yet it never runs out.
"The great image" is the Way's own invisible shape, and the chapter plays on two kinds of stopping. Music and fine food are showy enough to make a traveler pause his journey; the Way, flavorless and barely perceptible, is what makes the whole world settle, in a deeper sense. It is a quiet dig at anything that only grabs attention because it is loud.
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