Excerpt from The Taoist Religion
It is a significant fact that, whilst comparatively so little has yet been done in the fields of Chinese etymology and history, where an ample supply of exact knowledge is at hand, almost every foreigner who has either seriously studied or superficially toyed with Chinese philosophical literature, where everything is so vague, considers himself at liberty to expatiate upon Taoism, although Confucius himself frankly declared it to be rather beyond his comprehension, even when explained by the Taoist prophet himself. Personally I have, for better or for worse, succeeded in surviving the nineteenth century without falling a victim to the fashionable cacoethes; and if, after thirty-five years of dalliance with Chinese books, I at last yield to the tempter, I may at least be permitted to plead in palliation that I only commit in my approaching dotage that rash act which others have perpetrated in the heyday of their youth and fame.
As the sole authorities upon Taoism, and upon Lao-tsz, its prophet, are in the most absolute sense the Chinese themselves, it is plain that I am not committing an indiscretion when in the first instance I totally ignore all that foreigners have written upon the subject, and proceed to state what I conceive the original evidence to be.
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