Q0479

“By “renewing the people” we do not mean abandoning all that is…” — Liang Qichao (On Renewing the People)

Verified English quotation. Primary source: On Renewing the People. Theme: society.

English

By “renewing the people” we do not mean abandoning all that is old to follow others. Renewal has two senses: to refine what we already have, and to supply what we lack.
Thinker Liang Qichao
School Modern Chinese Thought
Source On Renewing the People
Theme Society
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to On Renewing the People and files it under Modern Chinese Thought. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

About Liang Qichao

Liang Qichao (1873–1929) was a leading late-Qing and early-Republican intellectual who introduced Western political ideas and reshaped Chinese historiography and public opinion.

How to read this passage

Social philosophy asks how individuals and collectives constitute each other, and what justice requires of shared life. This passage enters that discussion through society.

Concepts in this quote

Society
Society is the web of institutions, customs, and mutual expectations in which individual freedom takes shape.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Liang Qichao. (n.d.). By “renewing the people” we do not mean abandoning all that is old to follow others. Renewal has two senses: to refine what we already have, and to supply what we lack. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0479

MLA: Liang Qichao. “By “renewing the people” we do not mean….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0479.

Chicago: Liang Qichao. “By “renewing the people” we do not mean….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0479.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “By “renewing the people” we do not mean…”?

The passage is attributed to Liang Qichao, On Renewing the People. The archive attributes this English wording to On Renewing the People and files it under Modern Chinese Thought. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

What does Liang Qichao mean by society?

Social philosophy asks how individuals and collectives constitute each other, and what justice requires of shared life. This passage enters that discussion through society.

Same thinker

More from Liang Qichao

  1. The two sayings I have found most useful in life are these: responsibility, and delight.… What I speak of today as respect for one's work is responsibility; delight in one's work is interest. I deeply believe that a reasonable human life should be like this.
  2. Every occupation has its interest — if only you keep at it, interest will naturally arise.
  3. If the youth are wise, the nation is wise; if the youth are prosperous, the nation is prosperous; if the youth are strong, the nation is strong.

All quotations by Liang Qichao

Same theme

More on society

  1. It is through wonder that people both now begin and first began to philosophize.
  2. A person's character is their destiny.
  3. What is opposed brings together; from what differs comes the finest harmony.
  4. Death is nothing to us: for what has been dissolved has no sensation, and what has no sensation is nothing to us.
  5. Pleasure is the beginning and end of the happy life — not the pleasures of profligates, but freedom from pain in the body and from disturbance in the soul.

Browse the society theme