《菜根谭》英译（宁虚勿溢、宁缺勿全）

攲器以满覆，扑满以空全；故君子宁居无不居有，宁处缺不处完。<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The qi vessel tips over when it is filled with water. The puman moneybox stays whole only so long as it is not filled up with money. Therefore, a man of virtue prefers plain poverty to ostentatious wealth, choosing to live with relative paucity instead of extreme abundance.

（保罗·怀特 译）

An inclined vessel is easy to topple when it is filled to the brim. A piggy bank is safe to be itself so long as it remains empty. Accordingly, the genuine person would rather stick to Nothing than to Being, and rather be contented with incompletion than with completion.

（周文标 译）

A vessel topples because it is too full. A piggy bank is saved from being shattered for its emptiness. So a wise person prefers “have-not” than “have”. Rather be incomplete than to be complete.

（李兆良 译）