Lao Tzu (c.500 BC)

Lao Zi (circa 500 BCE): Dao De Jing Chapter 60

(Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching Chapter 60)

       Rule a large country as one would cook a small fish!

       Rule the world in accordance with the Way of Dao,

       The evil spirits would lose their potency;

       Not that they are not at all potent, but that,

       In their potency, they harm not the people;

       Not only, in their potency, they harm not the people,
       The sage ruler, too, would do no harm to the people.
    It is because the ruler and the people do not harm each other
    That the Virtue of De, reciprocating, returns and reigns.