Tao te Ching: 38

The man of superior virtue is not (conscious of) his virtue,
And in this way he really possesses virtue.
The man of inferior virtue never loses (sight of) his virtue,
And in this way he loses his virtue.
The man of superior virtue takes no action, but has no ulterior motive to do so.
The man of inferior virtue takes action, and has an ulterior motive to do so.
The man of superior humanity takes action, but has no ulterior motive to do so.
The man of superior righteousness takes action, and has an ulterior motive to do so.
The man of superior propriety (li) takes action,
And when people do not respond to it, he will stretch his arms and force it on them.
Therefore, only when Tao is lost does the doctrine of virtue arise.
When virtue is lost, only then does the doctrine of humanity arise.
When humanity is lost, only then does the doctrine of propriety arise.
Now, propriety is a superficial expression of loyalty and faithfulness, and the beginning of disorder.
Those who are the first to know have the flowers (appearance) of Tao but are the beginning of ignorance.
For this reason the great man dwells in the thick (substantial), and does not rest with the thin (superficial).
He dwells in the fruit (reality), and does not rest with the flower (appearance).
Therefore he rejects one, and accepts the other.

The beginning is a condemnation of pride and praise for humility, or at the very least a practical hsü (vacuity). When someone is truly good, they seldom notice it. They simply think that is the way that is natural and often reply, "Isn't everyone like that?" Those who are proudest of their virtue are those who seldom have much and are on their way to losing it by bragging about it. Imagine someone who works at a homeless shelter for 10 hours a week, but spends the remaining time letting other people know that they are doing it. Eventually, that person becomes known not for their good work, but for letting others know about it.

I suffer from some of this myself. I want validation and approval, and that is a way to get it. It just proves that I don't have all of my own ducks in a row. How many people have you met with the kind of unaware virtue that Lao Tzu discusses? I think you will find it is a small number. Yet, I can't think of many who would not think well and want to emulate such a person.

Lao Tzu does an excellent job of pronouncing and then explaining the next section about the fall from virtue to disorder. This is rightly taken, again, as a condemnation of Confucianism for the same reasons as before. The Confucian ideals discussed in chapter 18 are the natural response of humans to come back to a state of harmony with Tao, and therefore existence, without actually coming back into harmony with Tao.

It is an emulation of an the ideal state, not the achievement of the ideal state.

Wang Pi, a Neo-Taoist from about the 9th century (birthdate unknown, presumed to die in 805 C.E.), wrote many commentaries, including one of the Tao te Ching. He notes:

How is virtue to be attained? It is to be attained through Tao. How is virtue to be completely fulfilled? It is through non-being as its function. As non-being is its function, all things will be embraced. Therefore in regard to things, if they are understood as non-being all things will be in order, whereas if they are understood as being, it is impossible to avoid the fact that they are products (phenomena).

 This is interesting to me. I see it as a marriage between Taoist thought and Buddhist thought.