34 Quotes by Hu Shih

The knowledge that mankind needs is not the way or principle which has an absolute existence, but the particular truths for here and now and for particular individuals. Absolute truth is imaginary, abstract, vague, without evidence, and cannot be demonstrated.

The most outstanding characteristic of Eastern civilization is to know contentment, whereas that of Western civilization is not to know contentment. Contented Easterners are satisfied with their simple life and therefore do not seek to increase their material enjoyment... They are satisfied with their present lot and environment and therefore do not want to conquer nature but merely be at home with nature and at peace with their lot.

Confucius was a humanist and an agnostic.

The sun exactly at noon is exactly [beginning to] go down. And a creature when he is born is exactly [beginning to] die.

The underlying sickness of human life is an unwillingness to look with open eyes at the condition of the world.

A group of slaves will never make a liberal and progressive country; such a country can be made up only of independent-minded and free-thinking people.

Even the absolute universality of the law of causality does not necessarily limit a person’s freedom, because the law of causality not only enables him to explain the past and predict the future, but also encourages him to use his intelligence to create new causes and attain new results.