Patrick

“the true test of a country’s level of civility has nothing to do with building the tallest skyscraper or driving the fastest car, nor does it matter how advanced your weapons system is or how powerful your military might be; it is also not about how advanced your technology is or even your artistic achievements, and it is especially not related to how lavish your official government meetings are or how splendid your firework displays are, or even how many rich Chinese tourists you have buying up different parts of the world. There is only one true test, and that is how you treat the weakest and most vulnerable members of your society.”
― Fang Fang, Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City

“Set clear goals and channel all your energies into reaching them, the self-help books advise. This approach assumes we’ve identified our destination before beginning our journey. Life doesn’t work that way. Sometimes you don’t know where you’re going until you start moving. So move. Start where you are. Make a single brushstroke and see where it leads.”
― Eric Weiner, The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers

“He no longer walked to flee or to find or to make a philosophical point. He simply walked.”
― Eric Weiner, The Socrates Express

“Duty comes from inside, obligation from outside. When we act out of a sense of duty, we do so voluntarily to lift ourselves, and others, higher. When we act out of obligation, we do so to shield ourselves, and only ourselves, from repercussions.”
― Eric Weiner, The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers