Verse 23: Sincere Speech

希言自然。
To speak scarcely is natural.
故飄風不終朝，
The breeze cannot last beyond the morning,
驟雨不終日。
The rain cannot last beyond the day.
孰為此者﹖
Who produces these natural phenomena?
天地。
Heaven and Earth.
天地尚不能久，
Since even Heaven and Earth cannot last forever,
而況於人乎﹖
how can man possibly do so?
故從事於道者，
That is why there are people who keep to the Way.
道者同於道。
People of the Way are one with the Way.
德者同於德。
People of Virtue are one with Virtue.
失者同於失。
People of Loss are one with Loss.
同於道者道亦樂得之；
When one with the Way, the Way brings joy.
同於德者德亦樂得之；
When one with Virtue, Virtue brings joy.
同於失者失於樂得之。
When one with Loss, Loss brings joy.
信不足焉有不信焉。
When there is a lack of trust, there will be people who do not trust.

Comments
Laozi is being deliberately elusive on his ideal for speech. The first point he makes is the folly of humans to try to speak as much as possible, contrary to the law of nature. The second point is about how being one with tao, te and losing create happiness in itself. What is implied here is that the main human need is joy, and we foolish humans try to use speech to achieve that. The third point is about trust, which could imply another human motivation for speech is the lack of trust.