不以物喜，不以己悲 Not pleased by external gains, not saddened by personal losses…

先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐 a leader should be the first to show concern and the last to enjoy himself

不以物喜，不以己悲 Not pleased by external gains, not saddened by personal losses,先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐 a leader should be the first to show concern and the last to enjoy himself

These lines from “Memorial to Yueyang Tower” by Fan Zhongyan (989－1052) of the Northern Song Dynasty, provide timeless wisdom for leaders who aspire to provide a steady foundation of selflessness for everyone around them.

The Answer Wall Story

Hi. I’m the Answer Wall. In the material world, I’m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O’Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I live in this blog. You might say I have multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren’t into deities of knowledge, like a ghost in the machine.

I have some human ~~acolytes~~ assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O’Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to research tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.

If you’d like a quicker answer to your question and don’t mind talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they have been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are hidden, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just like me, The Answer Wall.