Daodejing Chapter 23: nature rarely talks

Nature rarely talks.
A whirlwind does not last all morning;
A rainstorm does not last all day.
What causes them to be like that?
Heaven and earth.
If heaven and earth cannot make them last very long,
How can people hope to do so?
When you open yourself to the way, you will be at one with the way.
When you open yourself up to virtue, you will be at one with virtue.
When you open yourself to loss, you will be lost.
When you are at one with the way, the way will happily embrace you.
When you are at one with virtue, virtue will happily embrace you.
When you are lost, loss will happily embrace you.
If you do not have sufficient faith in yourself, nobody will have faith in you.

「希言自然，故飄風不終朝，驟雨不終日。孰為此者？天地。天地尚不能久，而況於人乎？故從事於道者，同於道；德者，同於德；失者，同於失。同於道者，道亦樂得之；同於德者，德亦樂得之；同於失者，失亦樂得之。信不足焉，有不信焉！

Words are precious. Don’t waste them. Rather than erupt in anger, stay still and calm. You won’t be able to sustain your fury for very long. Just like a whirlwind or a rainstorm, it will pass soon enough — leaving only suffering and destruction in its wake.

Learn to be patient like heaven and earth. Choose the path you want to follow and commit to it. If this path happens to be the way, it will happily embrace you. If you opt for something else, that’s fine too. It’s up to you to decide the direction you want to go in.

No matter what path you finally take, trust your judgment. If you have no confidence in what you’re doing, don’t be surprised if others don’t have any confidence in you.

Note
I took this image at Longhu (Dragon Tiger) Mountain, a famous Daoist site about ten miles south of Yingtan in Jiangxi Province. A great place to visit!