Michael Ignatieff

“The market is a good servant but a bad master.”

“There is a difference between justice and vengeance.”

“A citizen's life is a life in public, a life in the agora, and that is a life of conversation, of argument, of persuasion.”

“The problem with rights is that they are only as good as the institutions that enforce them.”

“We have to build a common life, and we can't do it by screaming at each other.”

“Memory is the key to identity.”

“The 21st century will be a century of cities. The city is the human race’s greatest invention.”

“Human rights is a language of power. It is a language that can be used to challenge power.”

“The essence of statesmanship is to not only comprehend the problems of the day, but to have a vision of the future.”

“Technology is not destiny. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us.”

“Human rights are not a utopian aspiration. They are a political practice.”

“Nationalism is the belief that your nation is superior to all others. Patriotism is the love of your nation.”

“The right to have rights is the most basic human right of all.”

“To belong is to understand the tacit codes of the people you live with.”

“Forgiveness is a private act, but it has public consequences.”