The Philippines Is Not a Small Country Quotes

“It is just as our history teaches us: we can only achieve real progress when we learn to think as a nation. And we can only be a nation when we have learned to share each other's pain.”
― Gideon Lasco, The Philippines Is Not a Small Country

“We need to be reminded that 112 Filipino soldiers died to fight for the freedom that South Korea enjoys today; and that we have always opened our doors to refugees, from the Jews during World War II to the people Indochina during the Vietnam War.
When we realize that we Filipinos, far from passive victims of history but that of the world, we begin to overcome the feeling of smallness that sets back our geopolitical imagination. What our past should give us is not an enmity for those who oppressed us, but an empathy for those who experience oppression.
What our past should give us is neither a feeling of victimization nor entitlement but a dignity of a people that has suffered much--but has overcome more.”
― Gideon Lasco, The Philippines Is Not a Small Country

“When students decide to die, the least that we as a society can do is acknowledge their pain--and use all our disciplines to figure out how the world can be made to feel like a less forbidding place to live.”
― Gideon Lasco, The Philippines Is Not a Small Country

“Given what we know, then, we should no longer be debating the notion that people are poor because they are lazy. Indeed, the real question we must ask is why despite people's hard and precarious work, they remain stuck in unacceptable poverty while despite their incompetence and indifference, many of our politicians wallow in unacceptable wealth.”
― Gideon Lasco, The Philippines Is Not a Small Country

“It will take more than municipal or city ordinances to cleanser the streets of putrid smell. It will take nationwide effort to be disciplined in things large and small, a respect for law and that goes hand in hand with the respectability of the lawmakers and law enforcers, and inclusive growth that will reach the slums, the poorest of the poor. Finally, a civic consciousness should emerge that goes beyond "tapat mo linis mo" towards "tapat natin, linis natin.”
― Gideon Lasco, The Philippines Is Not a Small Country

“We need to be reminded that 112 Filipino soldiers died to fight for the freedom that South Korea enjoys today; and that we have always opened our doors to refugees, from the Jews during World War II to the people Indochina during the Vietnam War.

When we realize that we Filipinos, far from passive victims of history but that of the world, we begin to overcome the feeling of smallness that sets back our geopolitical imagination.

What our past should give us is not an enmity for those who oppressed us, but an empathy for those who experience oppression.
What our past should give us is neither a feeling of victimization nor entitlement, but a dignity of a people that has suffered much--but has overcome more.”
― Gideon Lasco, The Philippines Is Not a Small Country