"Nothing in the world is weaker or more yielding than water.
Yet nothing is equal in wearing away at the hard and strong.
There is nothing quite like it.
Thus, the weak can overcome the strong; the soft can overcome the hard.
Everyone in the world understands this yet no one puts it into practice.
Thus, the master says, "Only he who takes upon himself the pain of the people is fit to rule them. He who takes upon himself the sins of the world is king of the universe."
The truth often sounds like a paradox."
Translated from Tao Te Ching, Chapter 78 by Steven R. Cunningham.
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I think we took very many similar classes while at Yale... and we're from the same SEA nation. :D
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