Patrick Mendis Quotes

#1. The United States is the result of an enlightened philosophy; China is the outcome of traditions and history.

Patrick Mendis

#2. A convergence exists in the search for human excellence on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.

Patrick Mendis

#3. Both nations have an idea of Manifest Destiny and a concept of the Monroe Doctrine in their ideological arsenal, and both are continental powers with political and cultural influence that extends far beyond their national borders.

Patrick Mendis

#4. Individual identities and national destines were shaped by the tripod of history, geography, and philosophy.

Patrick Mendis

#5. For ardent believers in Chinese exceptionalism, the Confucian tradition of political stability and centralized state power is the critical factor in the realization of a 'harmonious society.

Patrick Mendis

#6. The philosophic goal in China was a search for harmony and perfection, not the discovery of truth by reasoning. In China's Confucian society, the best pathway to perfection was the development of a virtuous life.

Patrick Mendis

#7. Sooner or later, if left unaddressed, this natural human tendency will undermine the entire CPC pyramid like a chamber of magma lying beneath a mammoth volcano.

Patrick Mendis

#8. President George Washington's namesake capital, once a marketplace for slave auctions, is now synonymous with democracy and freedom; so is the iconic Jefferson, who wanted to build an "Empire of Liberty" for the world.

Patrick Mendis

#9. Unlike Confucius, Madison maintained that people have a limited capacity to control their passions themselves and act virtuously when their individual interests conflict with others.

Patrick Mendis

#10. This two-track plan of nationalism and development (in China) is a historically powerful weapon.

Patrick Mendis

#11. America acknowledged the greatness of Confucius through a trio of ancient lawgivers - Moses flanked by Confucius to his right and Solon on his left - on the monument to "Justice, the Guardian of Liberty" displayed on the eastern pediment of the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.

Patrick Mendis

#12. History is the archaeology of the present and future.

Patrick Mendis

#13. As Pacific Ocean nations, competition and cooperation between the two nations will create a new atmosphere - leading to the Birth of a 'Pacific' New World Order - that is more engaging and less confrontational; this can be characterized by the presence of force without war.

Patrick Mendis

#14. If American misjudgments and actions that evolved into human tragedies - i.e., racism, sexism, and other bigotries - are guiding lights, the Chinese leadership must ultimately yield its power to the sovereignty of its people.

Patrick Mendis

#15. Democratically-oriented Jeffersonian inspiration has prevailed throughout history and certainly been more admired than capitalistic Hamiltonian-style motivations of greed and power.

Patrick Mendis

#16. Although the rule of law has been codified in the Chinese constitution, a Confucian DNA is pervasively rooted in traditional mindsets as a superior system.

Patrick Mendis

#17. Long before Christopher Columbus, the celebrated Chinese navigator Zheng He travelled through the south and westward maritime routes in the Indian Ocean and established relations with more than thirty countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Patrick Mendis

#18. China has no choice but to emulate the power of America's founding ideas and its journey through the universal values of democratic freedom and individual rights.

Patrick Mendis

#19. Today's connoisseurs of Sino-American relations seem to view the relationship through a dystopian prism; their gloomy commentaries are largely an assemblage of snapshots on contemporary interactions or day-to-day developments without a historical context.

Patrick Mendis

#20. Within this historic and optimistic future in mind, I have made no value judgment of the destiny bestowed on each nation. For all this, however, leadership matters; so do the institutional structures and the system of political governance.

Patrick Mendis

#21. Unlike Saudi Arabia, Russia, and China, the United States was created by an enlightened band of Founding Fathers with a global vision for the new republic.

Patrick Mendis

#22. The evolution of national unity and equal rights is all about what America represents as a nation today: a manifestation of the historical episodes of Jefferson and Henry as well as the Civil War, the Women's Suffrage movement, and the Civil Rights struggles.

Patrick Mendis

#23. The Chinese dream is an American dream embedded in a Confucian cocoon.

Patrick Mendis

#24. Today's China is an artifact of an extended and contentious history while the relatively young American Republic is a daring project informed by the enlightenment philosophy espoused by the Founding Fathers.

Patrick Mendis

#25. To achieve the ultimate Confucian objective - a virtuous society - America has favored the rule of laws over Confucian-style virtues.

Patrick Mendis

#26. Outcome-oriented China has enjoyed the fruits of Hamiltonian prosperity; nevertheless, it also endured great human sacrifice and personal agonies along the way to affluence.

Patrick Mendis

#27. China is constantly reinventing itself and so is the United States.

Patrick Mendis

#28. It is difficult and even dangerous to make predictions - especially about the future - of the bilateral relationship.

Patrick Mendis

#29. Americans could achieve Jefferson's democratic freedoms through Hamilton's economic development strategies and trade policies.

Patrick Mendis

#30. To achieve these Jeffersonian ends, Alexander Hamilton - Jefferson's philosophical rival - devised an ingenious strategy that entailed a strong manufacturing base, a national banking system, a centralized federal government, and an export-led economic scheme protected by the U.S. Navy.

Patrick Mendis

#31. Natural law is superior as it allows for the pursuit of virtue genuinely initiated from within and themselves.

Patrick Mendis

#32. Americans consider the United States an exceptional nation; so do the Chinese people think of their Middle Kingdom.

Patrick Mendis

#33. The traditional Confucian structure that invoked ideals of perfect human virtue for harmony must incorporate the rule of law for the modern era.

Patrick Mendis