Tao Te Ching · Ch. 4

道沖,而用之或不盈。淵兮,似萬物之宗;挫其銳,解其紛,和其光,同其塵。湛兮,似或存。吾不知誰之子,象帝之先。

Dào chōng, ér yòng zhī huò bù yíng. Yuān xī, sì wàn wù zhī zōng; Cuò qí ruì, jiě qí fēn, hé qí guāng, tóng qí chén. Zhàn xī, sì huò cún. Wú bù zhī shuí zhī zǐ, xiàng dì zhī xiān.

The Tao is empty, yet in use it is never exhausted. Fathomless — like the ancestor of all things. It blunts sharp edges, unties tangles, softens the glare, becomes one with the dust. Deep and clear — it seems to barely exist. I do not know whose child it is; it appears to have preceded the heavenly emperor.

— Tao Te Ching 4

Source: Wang Bi edition (Chinese) + Hanyu Pinyin transliteration