Soft overcomes hard
Laozi's water yields to everything and wears down stone. Applied to men: the one who does not need to dominate every exchange conserves force for what matters.
Wu wei is not passivity
Effortless action means acting with the grain of a situation rather than against it — a carpenter reading the wood, not fighting it.
The loud man is the small man
Tao Te Ching warns that display signals insecurity. The Millionaire Next Door quietly proves the same law in money: those who must show it usually have less of it.