中国古代文学所体现的忧患意识

　　道德经
　　上善若水，水善利万物而不争。处众人之所恶，故几于道。
　　居善地，心善渊，与善仁，言善信，正善治，事善能，动善时。
　　夫唯不争，故无尤
　　The highest good is like that of water. The goodness of water is that it benefits the ten thousand creatures; yet itself does not scramble, but is content with the places that all men disdain. It is this that makes water so near to the Way.
　　And if men think the ground the best place for building a house upon,
　　If among thoughts they value those that are profound,
　　If in friendship they value gentleness,
　　In words, truth; in government, good order;
　　In deeds, effectiveness; in actions, timeliness-
　　In each case it is because they prefer what does not lead to strife
　　And therefore does not go amiss.
　　天地不仁，以万物为刍狗；圣人不仁，以百姓为刍狗。
　　天地之间，其犹橐龠乎！虚而不屈，动而愈出。
　　多言数穷，不如守中。

　　Chapter5
　　Heaven and Earth are ruthless;
　　To them the Ten Thousand Things are but as straw dogs.
　　The Sage too is ruthless;
　　To him the people are but as straw dogs.
　　Yet[1] Heaven and Earth and all that lies between
　　Is like a bellows
　　In that it is empty, but gives a supply that never fails.
　　Work it, and more comes out .
　　Whereas the force of words[2] is soon spent.
　　Far better is it to keep what is in the heart[3].
　　不尚贤，使民不争；不贵难得之货，使民不为盗；不见可欲，使民心不乱。
　　是以圣人之治，虚其心，实其腹；弱其志，强其骨。常使民无知无欲，使夫智不敢为也。为无为，则无不治。

　　Chapter3
　　If we stop looking for 'persons of superior morality' (hsien) to put in power, there will be no more jealousies among the people. If we cease to set store by products that are hard to get , there will be no more thieves. If the people never see such things as excite desire, their hearts will remain placid and undisturbed. Therefore the Sage rules
　　By emptying their hearts
　　And filling their bellies,
　　Weakening their intelligence[1]
　　And toughening their sinews
　　Ever striving to make the people knowledgeless and desireless.
　　Indeed he sees to it that if there be any who have knowledge, they dare not interfere. Yet through his actionless activity all things are duly regulated.
　　天下皆知美之为美，斯恶已；皆知善之为善，斯不善已。
　　故有无相生，难易相成，长短相形，高下相倾，音声相和，前后相随。
　　是以圣人处无为之事，行不言之教，万物作焉而不辞，生而不有，为而不恃，功成而弗居。夫唯弗居，是以不去。

　　Chapter2
　　It is because every one under Heaven recognizes beauty as beauty,that the idea of ugliness exists.
　　And equally if every one recognized virtue as virtue, this would merely create fresh conceptions of wickedness.
　　For truly 'Being and Not-being grow out of one another;
　　Difficult and easy complete one another.
　　Long and short test one another;
　　High and low determine one another.
　　Pitch and mode give harmony to one another.
　　Front and back give sequence to one another'.
　　Therefore[1] the Sage relies on actionless activity,
　　Carries on wordless teaching,
　　But the myriad creatures are worked upon by him; he does not disown them.
　　He rears them, but does not lay claim to them,
　　Controls them, but does not lean upon them,
　　Achieves his aim, but does not call attention[2] to what he does;
　　And for the very reason that he does not call attention to what he does
　　He is not ejected from fruition of what he has done.

“生于忧患，死于安乐”（孟子）“防患于未然”。“置之死地而后生，置之亡地而后存”（孙子兵法）