# Chapter 24

跂者不立。跨者不行。自見者不明。自是者不彰。自伐者無功。自矜者不長。其在道曰餘食贅行。物或惡之。故有道者不處。

### Translation

Stand on tiptoe — you cannot hold your ground.
Stride too wide — you cannot walk.
Display yourself — you will not be luminous.
Insist you are right — you will not be distinguished.
Boast of your deeds — you will claim no merit.
Flaunt your strengths — you will not endure.

From the vantage of Dao, these are
leftover food and excess baggage —
even creatures find them loathsome.
Therefore one who has Dao does not dwell there.

### Word Notes

- **跂 — "stand on tiptoe"**: To raise oneself on the toes.
- **跨 — "stride too wide"**: To lift the legs in an exaggerated step.
- **贅 — "excess"**: Superfluous, redundant.

### Chapter Explanation

One who **stands on tiptoe** hoping to appear tall **cannot hold his ground**. One who **strides too wide** hoping to go far **cannot walk**. One who **displays himself** cannot be truly **luminous**. One who **insists he is right** cannot be truly **distinguished**. One who **boasts of his deeds** will have **no merit**. One who **flaunts his strengths** will **not endure**. Spoken in terms of Dao, these are called **craving too much food and craving too great a journey** — eating to excess and traveling to exhaustion. **Even creatures** find such behavior loathsome. Therefore **one who has Dao** does not do these things.

### Discourse

This chapter continues to develop the meaning of non-contention from the two preceding chapters. It further warns emphatically against the great harm of overreaching and rushing ahead — that even creatures find such behavior loathsome. If a person insists on contending recklessly, he falls below even the level of creatures.

Yet Laozi's principle of non-contention is not the doctrine of spineless, shameless resignation. This has already been distinguished and clarified multiple times in earlier chapters. There is no need to say more here.