Learning is like sailing against the current. If you don't advance, you will retreat. The heart is like a horse running on the plain. If you don't know how to get in and out freely, just let it go, it will soon disappear.
Source: Liang Qing Qichao's "Speech at the Welcome Meeting of Shanxi Ticket Merchants": "The old man can keep it, and he has gone! However, I think that in the world, it is like sailing against the current. If you don't advance, you will retreat. My heart is like a horse race in the plain, easy to put and hard to collect. "
Vernacular translation:
Can be conservative, so it's over! But I think people living in this society are like sailing against the current. If you don't advance, you will retreat. The heart is like a horse running on the plain. If you don't know how to get in and out freely, just let it go, it will soon disappear.
Writing background:
Liang Qichao was born in Chakeng Village, Xinhui City, Guangdong Province on 26th (1February 23rd, 873). His grandfather Liang and his father Liang Baoying both participated in rural governance as gentry, which had a certain influence in the local area. Liang Qichao has been studying at home since he was four years old, and he can study with his grandfather.
Liang Qichao not only learned a lot of traditional knowledge of literature and history in his early enlightenment education, but also heard many tragic and passionate patriotic stories. Grandpa often tells him "The National Disaster of Song and Ming Dynasties" and recites exciting poems. This kind of extracurricular education with patriotic feelings and ideological tendency has had an important impact on Liang Qichao.
The style of worrying about the country and the people, the character of risking one's life and forgetting one's death, and the indomitable spirit of outstanding figures in past dynasties have been deeply rooted in his young mind.