無劍勝有劍、無招破有招 wú jiàn shèng yǒu jiàn、 wú zhāo pò yǒu zhāo (page 44)
when not possessing a sword wins over having a sword、when not using tricks wins over having tricks
抽刀斷水水更流,舉杯銷愁愁更愁。
"Drawing sword, cut into water, water again flow:
Raise cup, quench sorrow, sorrow again sorry."
— Li Bai, as translated by Ezra Pound who did not speak Chinese but did speak poetry, working off the notes of Ernest Fenollosa, who did not speak Chinese but did speak Japanese, so could read Chinese, more or less, because the Japanese writing system is based on the Chinese one. Kanji 漢字 means “Han written script”. I loved being in Tokyo, and being able to get my bearings a bit by reading.
— As poetry, it’s wonderful, as is the rest of Ezra Pound’s Cathay, whence my inspiration for North by Northwest Cathay came. As translation, I take the liberty here of slightly rewriting Ezra Pound (standing on the shoulders of giants, but with the advantage of knowing the source language):
Drawing sword to cut the water, water flows more:
Raising cup to quench the sorrow, sorrow sorrows more
— Li Bai, as translated by me, working off the poetry of Ezra Pound