Desiderata and the Tao of Wu Wei

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
. . . in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.
- Desiderata (Latin: "things desired"), Max Ehrmann

To think before speaking. To speak your truth quietly and clearly.
To disagree with the loud, the obnoxious, the selfish, the self-absorbed, the dishonest.
With a minimum of emotion.

To achieve one’s objectives
With a minimum of motion and commotion.

To achieve success
With a minimum of action.

To see beauty in the simple, the quiet, the gentle, the humble.
And capture, with one’s art
Peace, serenity, the simple expression of profound beauty.

To resolve disputes
With a minimum of upheaval and ill will.

The hallmark of wisdom
Of the truly spiritual life.
Though requiring less effort
Difficult to master, wu wei – the elusive path of nonaction
Control of oneself perhaps not possible to fully achieve.

Max Ehrmann wrote Desiderata in 1927, decades before most Western readers had encountered the Tao Te Ching. Yet the resonance is unmistakable: go placidly, speak quietly, yield without surrender. Laozi called this wu wei — not passivity, but the art of acting in accordance with what is, rather than against it. Both texts ask the same question, in different centuries and different tongues: what remains when striving falls away?