Liang Shiqiu quote: A person is most like a human being when they are at leisure

November 3 is the 30th anniversary of the death of modern Chinese writer Liang Shiqiu. Bing Xin said that flowers have color, fragrance and taste, while people have talent, feeling and charm, and among my friends, among men, only Liang Shiqiu is most like a flower. Yu Guangzhong said that his conversation was witty yet benevolent, humorous yet measured, fully combining the refinement of a Chinese literatus with the wit of a Western writer. Reading the gentleman's refined taste, gentle counsel and deep feeling again, the principles of how to conduct oneself are right there within them.

Liang Shiqiu's classic quotations

A person is most like a human being

only when they are at leisure.

When the hands and feet are quite free,

the mind can become quite busy.

What I call loneliness

is encountered by chance, with no need to force it;

a moment of sudden insight is not too short,

and if it is lost, there is no need to feel regretful.

But if I have a moment of loneliness,

I want to enjoy it well.

Greediness is not a sin;

on the contrary, it is a sign of good appetite and health,

much better than eating without knowing the taste.

Sometimes,

as long as you open your heart,

happiness will come pressing in on you.

Fine times and beautiful scenery,

joyful hearts and pleasant things,

are everywhere.

Shakespeare has a famous line:

Frailty, thy name is woman!

But this frailty

does not always cause women to suffer.

The more supple a thing is, the harder it is to break.

The simplest method of self-cultivation is reading.

If a person does not read,

they sink into the dust and toil of the world's net,

are trapped by the reins of fame and the locks of profit,

burned by the five fires and covered by the six obscurations, troubled and fretful,

naturally their appearance becomes repellent;

how can their speech have flavor?

I am unwilling to see people off,

and also unwilling for people to see me off.

For those one truly cannot bear to leave,

the moment of parting is like surgery.

A friend said,

"When you leave, I will not see you off;

when you come, no matter how strong the wind or how heavy the rain,

I will go to meet you."

I admire that feeling most.

The ancients said that conducting oneself begins with rising early.

Because this is the first thing

each person does every day.

If this one thing cannot be done,

the rest can be imagined.

"In dealings with friends, maintain respect over time."

Respect means keeping distance,

and also preventing excessive intimacy.

What must be noted is that

friendship cannot be overdrawn;

one must always keep something in reserve.

No one does not cherish their life,

but few cherish their time.

I have never believed that children are the masters of the future world,

because I have seen with my own eyes that children are everywhere acting as the masters of the present.

Knowledge is boundless, while life is limited.

One must both master the ancient and understand the modern,

and there truly is not enough time.

Therefore, diligent study must begin early.

If the young do not work hard, when else will they?

Conversation, like writing an essay,

has a theme, has a draft in mind,

has layers, has a beginning and an end,

and must not be incoherent.

Trees and people ultimately share the same fate,

both must fall,

with only one difference:

what trees worry about is external danger,

while what people fret over is the turmoil within.

I often fantasize about the realm of "an old friend arriving in wind and rain,"

when the wind is sighing and the rain is falling thick,

and the mood is bleak and utterly listless,

suddenly a guest knocks at the door,

and clasping hands in joy, hearts are in perfect accord.

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