When I read this a second time, I focused on “nothing is more supple or weak than water yet nothing can surpass it for attacking what’s stiff and strong”. This statement makes me think of how we can’t mess with Mother Nature because it is more powerful than us. Even though water is supple, I think this refers to its liquid state it can cause disasters like flooding, tropical storms, hurricanes that we cannot overpower and with climate change we will see more and more from water which is yet supple but very powerful.