善之与恶,相去若何﹖
Can it be compared to the difference between good and bad?
人之所畏,不可不畏。
The saying “what others avoid I too must avoid”
荒兮其未央哉﹗
how false and superficial it is?
众人熙熙,如享太牢,如春登台。
All men, indeed, are wreathed in smiles, as though feasting after the Great Sacrifice, as though going up to the Spring Carnival.
众人皆有余,而我独若遗。
All men have enough and to spare; I alone seem to have lost everything.
我愚人之心也哉﹗ 沌沌兮,俗人昭昭,我独若昏。
Mine is indeed the mind of a very idiot, So dull am I.#2 The world is full of people that shine; I alone am dark.
俗人察察,我独闷闷。
They look lively and self-assured; I alone depressed.
澹兮其若海,漂兮若无止。
(I seem unsettled as the ocean; Blown adrift, never brought to a stop.)
众人皆有以,而我独顽似鄙。
All men can be put to some use; I alone am intractable and boorish.
我独(欲)异于人,而贵食母。
But wherein I most am different from men is that I prize no sustenance that comes not from the Mother's breast.