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Peter Hessler Quotes

Akhenaten’s kingship provides an unintended caricature of all modern leaders who indulge in the trappings of charismatic display.

Peter Hessler

Akhenaten’s kingship provides an unintended caricature of all modern leaders who indulge in the trappings of charismatic display.

All the women who worked in the shops were unmarried, and invariably they were fascinated by the relationships of their foreign bosses. They’re equal, Rasha, the assistant at the Chinese Lingerie Corn...

Peter Hessler

All the women who worked in the shops were unmarried, and invariably they were fascinated by the relationships of their foreign bosses. They’re equal, Rasha, the assistant at the Chinese Lingerie Corn...

About Author
Peter Benjamin Hessler (born June 14, 1969) is an American writer and journalist. He is the author of four books about China and has contributed numerous articles to The New Yorker and National Geographic, among other publications. In 2011, Hessler received a MacArthur Fellowship in recognition and encouragement of his "keenly observed accounts of ordinary people responding to the complexities of life in such rapidly changing societies as Reform Era China."

Average Egyptians take pride in their pharaonic history, but there’s also a disconnect, because the tradition of the Islamic past is stronger and more immediate. This is captured perfectly by the desi...

Peter Hessler

Average Egyptians take pride in their pharaonic history, but there’s also a disconnect, because the tradition of the Islamic past is stronger and more immediate. This is captured perfectly by the desi...

Beijing maps featured cloverleaf exchanges that could have been designed by M. C. Escher.

Peter Hessler

Beijing maps featured cloverleaf exchanges that could have been designed by M. C. Escher.

But there were reports that Jiang and other members of the Old Guard were resisting retirement, and experts said that the Beidaihe meetings would be the first battleground of the political transition....

Peter Hessler

But there were reports that Jiang and other members of the Old Guard were resisting retirement, and experts said that the Beidaihe meetings would be the first battleground of the political transition....

Every always says that their product is the best, said Mr.Wang. They have to talk about how much better they are than the competition, and usually they believe it. But the truth is that it's much easi...

Peter Hessler

Every always says that their product is the best, said Mr.Wang. They have to talk about how much better they are than the competition, and usually they believe it. But the truth is that it's much easi...

Everything still revolves around memorization and repetition, the old cornerstones of Chinese education.

Peter Hessler

Everything still revolves around memorization and repetition, the old cornerstones of Chinese education.

For a Politeness Monitor, these responses seemed awfully terse and uncommunicative, but who was I to judge?

Peter Hessler

For a Politeness Monitor, these responses seemed awfully terse and uncommunicative, but who was I to judge?

In modern China, road building has often been a strategy for dealing with poverty or crisis.

Peter Hessler

In modern China, road building has often been a strategy for dealing with poverty or crisis.

I began to see motorcyclists who had attached computer discs to their back mudflaps, because they made good reflectors. In a place called Xingwuying, locals climbed the Great Wall whenever they wanted...

Peter Hessler

I began to see motorcyclists who had attached computer discs to their back mudflaps, because they made good reflectors. In a place called Xingwuying, locals climbed the Great Wall whenever they wanted...

I looked at the terraced hills and noticed how the people had changed the earth, taming it into dizzying staircases of rice paddies; but the Chinese looked at the people and saw how they have been sha...

Peter Hessler

I looked at the terraced hills and noticed how the people had changed the earth, taming it into dizzying staircases of rice paddies; but the Chinese looked at the people and saw how they have been sha...

I realized that as a thinking person his advantage lay precisely in his lack of formal education. Nobody told him what to think, and thus he was free to think clearly.

Peter Hessler

I realized that as a thinking person his advantage lay precisely in his lack of formal education. Nobody told him what to think, and thus he was free to think clearly.

I sensed that this was a small part of what contributed to the passivity with regard to the Three Gorges Project in Fuling. The vast majority of the people would not be directly affected by the coming...

Peter Hessler

I sensed that this was a small part of what contributed to the passivity with regard to the Three Gorges Project in Fuling. The vast majority of the people would not be directly affected by the coming...

In 1923, National Geographic Magazine claimed that the Great Wall is visible to the human eye from the moon. (In truth, nobody on the moon could see it in 1923, and they sill can't.) For a while, Chin...

Peter Hessler

In 1923, National Geographic Magazine claimed that the Great Wall is visible to the human eye from the moon. (In truth, nobody on the moon could see it in 1923, and they sill can't.) For a while, Chin...

In China, much of life involves skirting regulations, and one of the basic truths is that forgiveness comes easier than permission.

Peter Hessler

In China, much of life involves skirting regulations, and one of the basic truths is that forgiveness comes easier than permission.

In China, the transition has been to abrupt that many traffic patterns come directly from pedestrian life - people drive the way they walk. They like to move in packs, and they tailgate whenever possi...

Peter Hessler

In China, the transition has been to abrupt that many traffic patterns come directly from pedestrian life - people drive the way they walk. They like to move in packs, and they tailgate whenever possi...