Chapter 9

Original Text

持而盈之，不如其已。揣而銳之，不可常保。金玉滿堂，莫之能守。富貴而驕，自遺其咎。功成名遂身退，天之道。

Alternate editions read: 功遂身退.

Translation

Hold it and fill it to the brim — Better to stop in time. Grasp it and sharpen it to a point — It cannot be kept for long. Gold and jade may fill the hall, But none can guard them. Wealth and honor joined with arrogance Bring ruin upon oneself. When the work is done and the name established, withdraw — This is the Dao of Heaven.

Word Notes

• 持 — "to hold": To hold fast, to keep.
• 揣 — "to grasp": To feel out, to probe; to work and shape.
• 銳 — "sharp": Keen, sharp-edged.
• 驕 — "arrogant": Proud, haughty.
• 咎 — "ruin": Misfortune, calamity.

Chapter Explanation

When what you hold on to has become full, better to stop than to overflow. When what you have grasped and sharpened has become keen, it cannot be kept for long. Gold and jade may fill the hall, but they cannot be guarded forever. Wealth and honor joined with arrogance — one brings ruin upon oneself. When the work is done and the name established, to withdraw and not remain — this is to follow the Dao of Heaven.

Discourse

This chapter says that among all things between Heaven and Earth, whatever has become full must ebb and recede; whatever has been sharpened to a fine edge must break. People of the world do not understand this principle. They know only how to scramble for power and seize profit, pursuing wealth and chasing honor. They do not realize that wealth and honor not only cannot be kept for long — they are also what everyone covets. They become the gathering-place of all resentment. If one relies on one's wealth and honor and becomes arrogant, one only hastens one's own ruin.

Therefore, when the work is done and the name established, one should withdraw. To have and yet not possess; to be full and yet not complacent; to achieve merit and not dwell in it; to have not the slightest aggressive edge — only this accords with the natural course of the Dao of Heaven. Only this can preserve oneself forever.