The most civilized
portion under the alphabetical culture is also inhabited by the
most fickled people. The history of the Western land repeats the
same story over and over again. Thus up and down with the Greeks;
up and down with Rome; up and down with the Arabs. The ancient
Semitic and Hametic peoples are essentially alphabetic users, and
their civilizations show the same lack of solidity as the Greeks
and the Romans. Certainly this phenomenon can be partially
explained by the extra-fluidity of the alphabetical language
which cannot be depended upon as a suitable organ to conserve any
solid idea. Intellectual contents of these people may be likened
to waterfalls and cataracts, rather than seas and oceans. No
other people is richer in ideas than they; but no people would
give up their valuable ideas as quickly as they do....
The Chinese language is by all means the counterpart of the
alphabetic stock. It lacks most of the virtues that are found in
the alphabetic language; but as an embodiment of simple and final
truth, it is invulnerable to storm and stress. It has already
protected the Chinese civilization for more than forty centuries.
It is solid, square, and beautiful, exactly as the spirit of it
represents. Whether it is the spirit that has produced this
language or whether this language has in turn accentuated the
spirit remains to be determined.
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