Quotes by Michael Ignatieff

I distinguish, between nationalism and patriotism.

Patriotism is strong nationalistic feeling for a country whose borders and whose legitimacy and whose ethnic composition is taken for granted.

Affirming belief that America is an exceptional nation has become a test of patriotism in American politics.

I went into politics thinking that, if I made arguments in good faith, Id get a hearing. Its a reasonable assumption, but its wrong. In five and a half years in politics up north, no one really bothered to criticize my ideas, such as they were. It was never my message that was the issue. It was always the messenger.

If the history of the western moral imagination is the story of an enduring and unending revolt against human cruelty, there are few more consequential figures than Raphael Lemkin - and few whose achievements have been more ignored by the general public. It was he who coined the word genocide. He was also its victim.

Loving a country is an act of the imagination.

Politics is a tough game. But would I change places with a trauma nurse in an emergency ward on a busy Saturday night? No way. There are lots of jobs in the world that are tougher than politics. And politicians and people whove done it need to remember that.

Trouble is, we call politics a game, but it isnt one. There is no referee, and the teams make up the rules as they go along. You cant cry foul or offside in politics. Almost anything goes.

When we say, even in a global village, that all politics is local, we mean that national sovereignties are the only reliable source of political authority.