“Man at his birth is supple and weak; at his death, firm and strong. (So it is with) all things. Trees and plants, in their early growth, are soft and brittle; at their death, dry and withered. Thus it is that firmness and strength are the concomitants of death; softness and weakness, the concomitants of life. Hence he who (relies on) the strength of his forces does not conquer; and a tree which is strong will fill the out-stretched arms, (and thereby invites the feller.) Therefore the place of what is firm and strong is below, and that of what is soft and weak is above.”
Tao Te Ching 76 · Legge
Translation: James Legge (1891), The Tâo Teh King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XXXIX, public domain, via Project Gutenberg (ebook 216). Reproduced in full and in context; chapter 1 and the chapter count (81 chapters) validated against the source before publishing. Legge’s round brackets are his own clarifying insertions.
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Christian comparison
How this connects to Jesus
At birth a man is supple and weak; at death, firm and strong; and so the hard and strong are the companions of death, the soft and weak the companions of life. Jesus embodied a gentleness that was not weakness: I am gentle and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29), and he promised that the meek shall inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). Strength that looks like softness runs through both.