Chapter VIII - On the use of the Book of Change: the lines
VIII - 1
The I is a book which should not be let slip from the mind. Its method is marked by frequent changing. Its lines move and change without staying, flowing about into any one of the hexagram's six places. They ascend and decend, ever inconstant. They change places so that an invariable rule cannot be derived from them: they vary as their changes indicate.

VIII - 2
The going forth and coming of the lines are according to rule and measure. People learn from them in external and internal affairs to stand in awe.

VIII - 3
The I, moreover, makes plain the nature of anxieties and calamities, and the causes of them. Though its students have neither master nor guardian, it is as if their parents drew near to them.

VIII - 4
Beginning with taking note of its explanations, we reason out the principles to which they point. Thus we find that it does supply a constant and standard rule. But if there be not the proper men, the course cannot be pursued.