A friend of mine sent me a copy of this book several years ago. It helped me save my own life. Now I'm sending her a copy back, hoping she will release this copy into the wild or into another friend's hands.

This particular paperback copy of Stephen Mitchell's translation has a laudatory blurb on the front cover by James Frey, the writer who got into such hot water with Oprah Winfrey for publishing a memoir that was actually fictionalized (A Million Little Pieces). Oprah blew the whistle on him and his publishers on her show--What a scandal! The publishing world was agog! James Frey's stock began to plummet! And yet the guy has finagled his name onto the cover of one of the world's oldest and most respected books of wisdom. Absurd!

I wonder what Lao-Tzu would say about this? Maybe:

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner.

Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.