Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.

Water gives way to everything, flows round obstacles and takes the shape of whatever holds it, yet over enough time it cuts through rock. Its strength is persistence and adaptability rather than force, and it never breaks because it never meets a thing head on. The hardest materials wear down against something that simply keeps coming.

When you meet an obstacle you cannot push through, consider going around it, changing shape, and keeping a steady pace. Soft persistence over months often achieves what one hard shove could not. It also spares you the breakage that comes from standing rigid.