There are 1, 198, 500, 000 people alive now in China. To get a feel for what that means, simply take yourself - in all your singularity, importance, complexity, and love - and multiply by 1, 198, 500, 000. See? Nothing to it.

Annie Dillard
About This Quote

When Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in South Africa during the Apartheid era, he came up with the idea to devise his first solo book, Long Walk to Freedom. He said that if he could write this book, he could change the world. He used this line to remind himself that if he could only overcome the difficulty of writing his book, then he would put himself back together again and be able to see the world for what it was- full of simple, profound beauty.

Source: For The Time Being

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  1. How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
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