Tao Te Ching - Chapter Fifty-Three
If I were to have the very slight insight,
I would live in accordance with the Great Tao.
My only fear is, to go astray from Tao while spreading it.
Great Tao is smooth and plain, yet people prefer the devious bypaths.
Hence, the government is corrupted with luxury and splendor.
The people were exhausted with labor and left the fields to be wasted and the granaries depleted.
Under such practices, the officials would wear fine clothes,
Carry sharp swords and indulge themselves in good food and drinks.
They crave with greed to possess great wealth.
Such is said to commit the crime of robbery and certainly is not the Way of Tao.