Tao Te Ching

One

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of ten thousand things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one sees the manifestations.
These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery.

It is my belief that Lao Tsu sets the tone for all of the following chapters with this beginning and warns us not to confuse symbols with the things they symbolize; not to confuse the book with what the book can teach.

A small side note also worth mentioning here is the number ten thousand. In ancient China the counting of things only went up to the number 10,000. In most common translations of the Tao Te Ching you will see the number referred to many times, but I would not take it to actually mean the number 10,000. Perhaps a less literal translation in this case would be the word universe. At other times, the concept of infinity might be better suited.