Once you get to the Enlightenment, the way that powers get to be hyperpowers isn't just by conquest. It's through commerce and innovation. Societies like the Dutch Republic and the United States used tolerance to become a magnet for enterprising immigrants.
Interpretation
True power comes not only from conquest but from commerce, innovation, and tolerance.
In this quote, Amy Chua discusses the idea that true strength and global influence arise not merely through military might, but through the adoption of progressive ideas such as commerce and innovation. She highlights the examples of societies like the Dutch Republic and the United States, which were able to thrive and attract talented individuals from around the world by fostering an environment of tolerance and opportunity for enterprising immigrants, illustrating how these factors interplay to form a foundation for lasting power.
In practice
During a keynote speech on economic development, one might say, 'As Amy Chua pointed out, true power is built on innovation and tolerance, not just conquest.'
I was raised, myself, by extremely strict but also extremely loving Chinese immigrant parents. To this day, I believe that their having high expectations for me, coupled with love, was the greatest gift that anyone's ever given me. And so that's why, even though my husband is not Chinese, I try to raise my own two daughters the same way.
Western parents worry a lot about their children's self-esteem. But as a parent, one of the worst things you can do for your child's self-esteem is to let them give up. On the flip side, there's nothing better for building confidence than learning you can do something you thought you couldn't.
A lot of parents today are terrified that something they say to their children might make them 'feel bad.' But, hey, if they've done something wrong, they should feel bad. Kids with a sense of responsibility, not entitlement, who know when to experience gratitude and humility, will be better at navigating the social shoals of college.
Some parents let their kids sleep at other people's houses, where they drink alcohol, watch TV for hours and God knows what else. But if you say you have to get all A's and practice the violin for two hours, then they consider that abusive. That upsets me.
I'm suggesting that, ironically, the secret to becoming a world 'hyperpower' is tolerance. If you look at history, you see great powers being very tolerant in their rise to global dominance.
Always remember that you belong to no one, and no one belongs to you. Reflect that some day you will suddenly have to leave everything in this world - so make the acquaintanceship of God now.
Despite the often illusory nature of essays on the psychology of a nation, it seems to me there is something revealing in the insistence with which a people will question itself during certain periods of its growth.
When one sense perceives the hidden, the invisible world becomes apparent to the whole.
There are forms of oppression and domination which become invisible - the new normal.
A comfortable, convenient life is not a real life - the more comfortable, the less alive. The most comfortable life is in the grave.
We live in an age of reproduction. Most of what makes up our personal picture of the world we have never seen with our own eyes--or rather, we've seen it with our own eyes, but not on the spot: our knowledge comes to us from a distance, we are televiewers, telehearers, teleknowers.
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