第六十四章
無為無失
原文
其安易持，其未兆易謀；其脆易泮，其微易散。為之于未有，治之于未亂。合抱之木，生于毫末；九層之台，起于累土；千裡之行，始于足下。為者敗之，執者失之。是以聖人無為故無敗，無執故無失。民之從事，常于幾成而敗之。慎終如始，則無敗事。是以聖人欲不欲，不貴難得之貨，學不學，複衆人之所過，以輔萬物之自然而不敢為。
英譯
No Interference, No Loss
It is easy to maintain the situation when it is stable,
and it is easy to plan an event when there is no sign of it.
Things are easy to dissolve when they are fragile;
things are easy to lose when they are subtle.
Get ready before things happen.
Make preparations for a disaster that is to occur.
The big tree grows from the tiny bud;
the nine-storey platform is built from a small pile of soil;
the journey of thousands of miles starts from the first step.
Those who act indiscriminately will meet failure,
and those who hold something by force will ruin it.
Therefore, the sages do not do whatever they want to,
and so they do not meet failure.
Because they do not cling to anything,
they do not suffer losses.
In doing things, they always fail on the verge of success,
so when things are almost finished,
they should be as careful as they were at the beginning,
and in this way, they can do everything.
Therefore, the sages with the divine law pursue
what others do not pursue,
desire for nothing that is hard to obtain,
learn what others do not learn,
remedy the mistakes often made by others,
and follow the nature of all things without intervention.
說明
1. “千裡之行，始于足下”的英譯
“千裡之行，始于足下”是一個耳熟能詳、朗朗上口的名句，表達了“遠大的目标必須從眼前腳踏實地的小事做起”。我們來看看各大譯本對這個名句的譯法有何不同：
許淵沖譯作“A thousand mile journey begins with the first step.”。
辜正坤譯作“A journey of a thousand li starts from beneath one’s feet.”采用了完全的直譯手法，保留了原文特色，将千裡之“裡”譯為拼音“li”。
Arthur Waley則譯作“The journey of a thousand leagues began with what was under the feet.”，Arthur在用詞上與衆不同的是千裡之行中的“裡”譯成了“league”，“league”是古代測量距離的機關“裡格”，一裡格等于4.8公裡，這個用詞雖然要保留古文之風貌，實在是太偏僻了。
我們的譯本“the journey of thousands of miles starts from the first step.”，與許淵沖譯本不同的是我們的“千裡之行”譯作“the journey of thousands of miles”，因為我們了解的千裡并不指具體的一千裡，而是“千裡之遙，極遠”的行程。
2. “不貴難得之貨”的英譯
我們了解的“不貴難得之貨”意為“不稀罕難以得到的貨物”，故譯作“desire for nothing that is hard to obtain”。許淵沖的譯文表述為“he never values what is hard to get”，即“不看重難以得到的東西”。辜正坤譯作“desire not rare goods”，即“不渴望稀有難得的物品”。而Arthur Waley則從商品經濟立意，将其譯作“set no store by products difficult to get”，即“不看重難以獲得的商品”。以上四個譯本，雖然用詞不同，終究殊途同歸。