Q0481
Liang Shuming
A verified English rendering from the curated archive.
English
Attitudes toward life are basically three: striving forward, holding the mean in harmony, and turning back inward.
Source context
This English passage is associated with Eastern and Western Cultures and Their Philosophies, within the tradition of Modern New Confucianism. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.
A short reading
Read in the register of society, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Liang Shuming's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?
How to cite this quotation
APA: Liang Shuming. (n.d.). Attitudes toward life are basically three: striving forward, holding the mean in harmony, and turning back inward. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0481
MLA: Liang Shuming. “Attitudes toward life are basically three: striving forward,….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0481.
Chicago: Liang Shuming. “Attitudes toward life are basically three: striving forward,….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0481.