Bhutan: A Higher State of Being By Jody Rosen, The New York Times, (30 Oct. 2014) 
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All Bhutanese know about the king’s passion for cycling, to which he has increasingly devoted his spare time since December 2006, when he relinquished the crown to his eldest son. In Thimphu, many tell tales of close encounters, or near-misses — the time they pulled over their car to chat with the bicycling monarch, the time they spotted him, or someone who looked quite like him, on an early-morning ride... The fourth king is the most beloved figure in modern Bhutanese history, with a biography that has the flavor of myth. He became Bhutan’s head of state in 1972 when he was just 16 years old.

— Bhutan: A Higher State of Being By Jody Rosen

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "All Bhutanese know about the king’s passion for cycling, to which he has increasingly devoted his spare time since December 2006, when he relinquished the crown to his eldest son. In Thimphu, many tell tales of close encounters, or near-misses — the time they pulled over their car to chat with the bicycling monarch, the time they spotted him, or someone who looked quite like him, on an early-morning ride... The fourth king is the most beloved figure in modern Bhutanese history, with a biography that has the flavor of myth. He became Bhutan’s head of state in 1972 when he was just 16 years old." in the context of "Bhutan: A Higher State of Being By Jody Rosen, The New York Times, (30 Oct. 2014) " to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Jigme Singye Wangchuck" (Quotes about) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Jigme Singye Wangchuck

About Jigme Singye Wangchuck

Jigme Singye Wangchuck, འཇིགས་མེད་སེང་གེ་དབང་ཕྱུག་, (born 11 November 1955) is the former king of Bhutan (Druk Gyalpo) from 1972 until his abdication in favor of his eldest son, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, in 2006.   During his reign, he advocated the use of a Gross National Happiness index to measure the well-being of citizens rather than the Gross Domestic Product.