76.People are born soft and supple;
dead, they are stiff and hard.
Plants are born tender and pliant;
dead, the are brittle and dry.
Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible
is a disciple of death.
Whoever is soft and yielding
is a disciple of life.
The hard and the stiff will be broken.
The soft and the supple will prevail.
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching (The Classic of the Way of Virtue), possibly 6th Century BC
