The mountains are high and the emperor is far away.

Chinese proverb

“The time will come soon when this trend will be checked by some appalling disaster.”

Charles Melville Hays
Canadian railway baron
Reportedly said on the night of the Titanic disaster before he was one of the nearly 1500 people who perished.
He was referring to the race by shipping companies competing for passengers by building faster ships.
Wikipedia
Ref: Canadian National History Railblazers. Canadian National Railway.

“Ko te rangatahi, ko rātou ngā rangatira o nāianei. Karekau ko rātou ko te rangatira āpōpō ko rātou te rangatira o nāianei.”

“The youth are the leaders of today. They are not the leaders of tomorrow. They are the leaders of today.”

Kiingitanga spokesperson Rahui Papa.

Banal buildings are bad for us. They are the design world’s equivalent of ultra-processed food. Such edifices fail to not only to the people who live or work in them but also to an often-ignored constituency: the people who have to walk past their dull façades every day.

‘Buildings affect our health’: Thomas Heatherwick on how dull architecture is just as harmful as fast food
WRITER Andrew Tuck
Monocle September 2026