43 Michael Ignatieff Quotes for You to Enjoy

Michael Ignatieff

Canadian Politician

Born: May 12, 1947

Good People Political Politics War You

Related authors: Agnes Macphail Andrew Scheer Charlotte Whitton Julie Payette Justin Trudeau Lester B. Pearson Stephen Harper William Lyon Mackenzie King

Lincoln was not an intellectual, but no one in 200 years understood the language of the King James Bible or learned Blackstone's Laws of England, or Cicero, or the language of the Founding Fathers, better than he did. Michael Ignatieff

Bible Better Language King Fathers Laws No-One He Learned Understood Lincoln Years Intellectual Than Did James England Founding Founding Fathers

Loving a country is an act of the imagination. Michael Ignatieff

Country Imagination Loving Act

In politics, there's a kind of literal-mindedness. It's what you say, not what you mean, and you have to say only what you mean. Michael Ignatieff

Politics You Say Kind Only Mean

I'm not tribal Labour. I'm a Liberal at heart. Different tradition, different language. Michael Ignatieff

Heart Language Tribal Liberal Tradition Labour Different Different Language

'Scar Tissue' is the only book I've ever written when I've felt completely toxic, ill. Michael Ignatieff

Book Scar Only Written Toxic Felt Tissue Ill Ever

What's distinctively shocking about Machiavelli is that he didn't care. He believed not only that politicians must do evil in the name of the public good, but also that they shouldn't worry about it. He was unconcerned, in other words, with what modern thinkers call 'the problem of dirty hands.' Michael Ignatieff

Good Problem Words Care Evil Politicians Other Worry Machiavelli Must About Only Dirty Unconcerned He Name Also Call Shocking Hands Modern In Other Words Public Public Good Believed Thinkers

Politics is intensely physical: your hands touch, clasp and hold, and your eyes are always reaching for contact. None of this came naturally to me. I'd always put my trust in words and let the words do the work, but in politics, the real message is physical. Michael Ignatieff

I had no inkling of how crazy the political life would turn out to be. You shuttle between your constituency and Ottawa, you try to make every barbecue, festival, parade and charity run, but sometimes you feel pulled in 14 directions at once. Michael Ignatieff

Life Crazy You Charity Sometimes Political Try Every Ottawa Once Parade Out Run Would Directions Had Feel Between Make How Political Life Festival Barbecue Turn Your Shuttle Pulled

Trouble is, we call politics a game, but it isn't one. There is no referee, and the teams make up the rules as they go along. You can't cry foul or offside in politics. Almost anything goes. Michael Ignatieff

Politics You Game Trouble Rules Almost Almost Anything Along Cry Make Call Make Up Go Referee Up Goes Anything Teams Foul

I have been a journalist, off and on, since I was 17. I was a copy boy for the 'New York Times,' when it had an edition in Paris, in 1963. I sold the paper in the streets by day and tore wire copy off the tele-printer for the editors making up the edition by night. Michael Ignatieff

Day Journalist Sold Paper Paris Wire Had Since New Boy Edition Making Editors Making Up Been Off Up Times York New York New York Times Streets Copy Night

The war waged against terror since September 11 puts a strain on democracy itself, because it is mostly waged in secret, using means that are at the edge of both law and morality. Yet democracies have shown themselves capable of keeping the secret exercise of power under control. Michael Ignatieff

War Democracy Law Power Edge Control September Secret Morality Both Puts Since Mostly Because Exercise Terror Waged Itself Against Capable Themselves Strain Means Using Shown Keeping

Belief in liberal freedom and democracy is always belief in it in a particular place, in a national home with histories that only those who are born in a place or who adopt its citizenship can hope to understand. Michael Ignatieff

Hope Home Freedom Democracy National Liberal Those Citizenship Born Adopt Only Particular Understand Always Histories Place Who Belief

There are no techniques in politics. Michael Ignatieff

Politics Techniques

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