The utmost goodness is like water.
易性 · Yì Xìng
Classical Chinese Text
上善若水。 水 善利 万物 而不争， 处 众人之所 恶， 故 几于 道。 居，善地；心，善渊；与，善仁；言，善信；政，善治；事，善能；动，善时。夫唯不争，故无尤。
Translation & Meaning
The utmost goodness is like water.
Linguistic & Character Analysis
- 上 (shàng): elevate / utmost / high
- 善 (shàn): goodness / skillful / kind
- 若 (ruò): classical character (ruò)
- 水 (shuǐ): water / fluid adaptability
- 利 (lì): benefits / nourishes
- 万 (wàn): ten thousand / myriad / all
- 物 (wù): things / phenomena / forms
- 而 (ér): yet / and / but
- 不 (bù): not / un- / without
- 争 (zhēng): compete / contend / rival
- 处 (chù): stays / dwells / position
- 众 (zhòng): multitude / myriad mass
- 人 (rén): person / human
- 之 (zhī): particle: of / possessive / it
- 所 (suǒ): place / frontier / that which
- 恶 (è): ugly / aversion / evil
- 故 (gù): therefore / thus / consequence
- 几 (jǐ): resembles / close to
- 于 (yú): to / at / in
- 道 (dào): The Way / Logos / to speak
- 居 (jū): reside in / carry oneself
- 地 (dì): classical character (dì)
- 心 (xīn): heart-mind / awareness
- 渊 (yuān): deepness / abyss / depth
- 与 (yǔ): classical character (yǔ)
- 仁 (rén): benevolence / kindness
- 言 (yán): words / speech
- 信 (xìn): truth / fidelity / honesty
- 政 (zhèng): governance / rule
- 治 (zhì): govern / bring order / rule
- 事 (shì): affairs / deeds
- 能 (néng): fruitful / capacity / ability
- 动 (dòng): action / motion / movement
- 时 (shí): timely / season / moment
- 夫 (fū): for / indeed / now
- 唯 (wéi): only / precisely because
- 无 (wú): formless void / non-being / without
- 尤 (yóu): resentment / fault / blame