The book starts with the observation that the way, or tao, is nameless. The way has existed forever and has created everything on earth, but it cannot be named or even fully described. Instead, building on the contradictions that help define many things in the Tao Te Ching, the way is described by what it is not. It cannot be something in particular, as it is everything. The Tao Te Ching is an attempt to approach an understanding of this mysterious, dim force that controls all but that recedes when we approach it. The author asks us to accept its existence in the show of opposites and ironies that are often observed on earth. When something appears powerful, it is often rendered weak. When someone uses force, that person often heads for a fall. Therefore, because the way seems like nothing, it is everything and all-encompassing. 

The Tao Te Ching discusses in many books the qualities of a good leader, or sage. The good leader is the one who does not think of himself or herself. Lao Tzu writes that only by putting oneself last can one be first. Only by wanting nothing for oneself is one able to recognize the tao of ruling.