A Good Traveler Has No Fixed

From Chapter 27 of the Tao Te Ching, a chapter built around a series of paradoxes about the nature of skillful action: a good traveler leaves no tracks; a good speaker makes no slips; a good counter needs no tallies. The verse about the traveler with no fixed plans illustrates the Taoist ideal of being open to the present moment rather than attached to a destination — a disposition that contrasts sharply with the goal-directed ethics of Confucius, who emphasized moral cultivation toward clearly defined ends.