74 民不畏死 奈何以死懼之

老子道德經第七十四章

民不畏死　奈何以死懼之
若使民常畏死
而為奇者　吾得執而殺之　孰敢
常有司殺者殺
夫代司殺者殺　是謂代大匠斲
夫代大匠斲者　希有不傷其手矣

======
SEVENTY-FOUR

If men are not afraid to die,
It is of no avail to threaten them with death.

If men live in constant fear of dying,
And if breaking the law means that a man will be killed,
Who will dare to break the law?

There is always an official executioner.
If you try to take his place,
It is like trying to be a master carpenter and cutting wood.
If you try to cut wood like a master carpenter,
you will only hurt your hand.

======
74

If people are not afraid of death,
then one can't threaten them with death.
But if they are always scared of death,
and for the criminals we catch and kill them,
then who dares to break the laws?

In nature, someone is in charge of execution.
If you try to do his job to kill,
then it's like trying to do a carpenter's job to chop wood--
sooner or later you will hurt your own hand.