Cynics who say power is all that counts in politics forget that power without ideas is just improvisation.
Michael IgnatieffThe reason that the Croats want a state of their own is that they fear being cut into little pieces by the Serbs.
Michael IgnatieffThose with a gift for action, for their part, often express contempt for those whose gifts are more reflective. Men of action like to say, Those who can, do, those who cant, teach, forgetting that those who teach get to write the history books.
Michael IgnatieffIf you get the access to see history happen, do you understand the history when it does happen? And the answer to that question is no, you dont.
Michael IgnatieffPatriotism is strong nationalistic feeling for a country whose borders and whose legitimacy and whose ethnic composition is taken for granted.
Michael IgnatieffThe Conservatives hold rural places because they keep bombarding rural Canada with, "Liberals are a bunch of urban, metropolitan snobs who don't care about you and want to leave you dead by the roadside." We've simply got to go out and say, "they're lying to you about us. We actually care about you more than the other guys, and we're not going to pander to your prejudices - we're going to give hope to your kids."
Michael Ignatieff