76 人之生也柔弱 其死也堅強

老子道德經第七十六章

人之生也柔弱　其死也堅強
草木之生也柔脆　其死也枯槁
故堅強者死之徒　柔弱者生之徒
是以兵強則滅　木強則折
強大處下　柔弱處上

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SEVENTY-SIX (Feng)

A man is born gentle and weak.
At his death he is hard and stiff.
Green plants are tender and filled with sap.
At their death they are withered and dry.

Therefore the stiff and unbending is the disciple of death.
The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life.

Thus an army without flexibility never wins a battle.
A tree that is unbending is easily broken.

The hard and strong will fall.
The soft and weak will overcome.

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76 (one of my favorites)

Life is gentle, flexible, and tender;
Death is rigid, stiff, brittle, and hard;
Just look at the grass and the woods.

The mighty and forceful will be broken;
The mild and yielding shall last forever.
Look at the trees again:

The trunk is strong but stays at the bottom,
The flowers are gentle and bloom atop.

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76. (st)

A baby's body is soft and gentle.
A corpse is hard and stiff.
Plants and trees are tender
and full of sap.
Dead leaves are brittle and dry.

If you are rigid and unyielding,
you might as well be dead.
If you are soft and flexible,
you are truly alive.

Soldiers trained to fight to the death will die.
A tree that cannot bend with the wind
will snap.

Here's a useful saying:
The harder they come,
the harder they fall.

Here's another:
The meek shall inherit the earth.