Ron Hogan has put out a fun new translation of the Tao te Ching, the key text of philosophical Taoism. At only eighty-one short poems, it’s a quick read. Here’s how Hogan renders my favorite:

If you drink too much, you get drunk.
The engine won’t start
if you’re always tinkering with it.

If you hoard wealth,
you fall into its clutches.
If you crave success,
you succumb to failure.

Do what you have to do,
then walk away.
Anything else will drive you nuts.

(Hat tip to Richard Chlopan.)