天長地久。天地所以能長且久者，以其不自生，故能長生。是以聖人後其身而身先；外其身而身存。非以其無私耶？故能成其私。

Heaven is long-enduring and earth continues long.
The reason why heaven and earth are able to endure and continue thus long is because they do not live of, or for, themselves.
This is how they are able to continue and endure.
Therefore the sage puts his own person last, and yet it is found in the foremost place;
he treats his person as if it were foreign to him, and yet that person is preserved.
Is it not because he has no personal and private ends, that therefore such ends are realised?

五色令人目盲；五音令人耳聾；五味令人口爽；馳騁田獵，令人心發狂；難得之貨，令人行妨。是以聖人為腹不為目，故去彼取此。

Colour's five hues from the eyes their sight will take;
Music's five notes the ears as deaf can make;
The flavours five deprive the mouth of taste;
The chariot course, and the wild hunting waste
Make mad the mind; and objects rare and strange,
Sought for, men's conduct will to evil change.
Therefore the sage seeks to satisfy the craving of the belly, and not the insatiable longing of the eyes.
He puts from him the latter, and prefers to seek the former.

企者不立；跨者不行；自見者不明；自是者不彰；自伐者無功；自矜者不長。其在道也，曰：餘食贅行。物或惡之，故有道者不處。

He who stands on his tiptoes does not stand firm;
he who stretches his legs does not walk easily.
So, he who displays himself does not shine; he who asserts his own views is not distinguished;
he who vaunts himself does not find his merit acknowledged; he who is self- conceited has no superiority allowed to him.
Such conditions, viewed from the standpoint of the Dao, are like remnants of food, or a tumour on the body, which all dislike.
Hence those who pursue the course of the Dao do not adopt and allow them.