Of all the elements, the sage should take water as the preceptor
Water is yielding but all conquering.
Water extinguishes Fire, or finding itself likely to be defeated, escapes as steam and reforms.
Water washes away soft Earth, or when confronted with rocks, seeks a way around.
Water corrodes Iron till it crumbles to dust, it saturates the atmosphere so that Wind dies.
Water gives way to obstacles with deceptive humility, for no power can prevent it following its destined course to the sea.
Water conquers by yielding, it never attacks but always wins the last battle.
The sage who acts as water, is distinguished from humility, embraces passivity, acts from non-action, and conquers the world.
- Tao Cheng

Hsuan-Tsung (712-762 Chinese emperor, poet and calligrapher, Taoist and Zen scholar) comments:

The nature of water is to stay low, to not struggle, and to take on the shape of its container. Thus, nothing is weaker. Yet despite such weakness it can bore through rocks. Rocks, however, cannot wear down water.

. . .

Chu Ti-Huang (1885-1941 Ch'ing dynasty official and early revolutionary, student of Buddhism and philosophy) comments:

We can alter the course and shape of water, but we can't alter its basic nature to descend, by means of which it overcomes the hardest and strongest things.

. . .

Since water still flows, though we cut it with swords
And sorrow returns, though we drown it with a wine,
Since the world can in no way answer to our craving,
I will loosen my hair tomorrow and take to a fishing boat.
      - Li Po (Chinese Poet) 

. . .

The highest motive in life is to be like water --
It fights nothing or no one.
It flows from and back to its source
and in the flowing smooths and wears away all resistance. 
- Taoist Proverb

There is no need to run outside for better seeing
Rather abide at the center of your being;
For the more you leave it, the less you learn;
Search your heart and see
The way to do it is to be.
           - Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

. . .

No, I am not like water
I’ve tried.
I move with it, sometimes
But have not, so far, managed to be it.

But, but
There is a water current underlying each of our lives
The challenge is to hook into it
To move through the world enhanced by its energy and rhythm.

Elusive, shy
Not righteous, no not self-proud
Not me, not you
But still, still
It moves
Seeks energy, seeks that which is greater.

. . .

To read reflections on the current that underlies each of our lives from a 2012 essay,
visit here. Here’s an excerpt:

Water is a mysterious substance. All life depends on water. In search of the ocean, water flows over and around waterfalls and rocks. Our lives, too, are on a kind of search, or can be if we open ourselves up to the current that underlies. Connected to that current, our work, our life, has power. It is easy to lose touch with that current. When I am connected, my life has a flow and amazing things happen. Help comes my way, I meet “fellow travelers,” people whose energy supports mine, and we both are enhanced. Doors open. Bills get paid. In a good month, I spend about a third of my time in that state of synchronicity.