Quotes Library

May 20, 2025

Politics must redress the natural injustice of history.

Michael Ignatieff (1947-), Canadian academic and author, The Needs of Strangers (1985), Colombo p.416

What do you think is the task of politics? Seriously?

Pretend we’re playing poker, so I can “raise” the argument. Throughout history, justice has only been made possible by way of political action. Moral precepts alone have had only spotty success, and rarely without some power of enforcement.


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I’ll tell you what’s at the bottom of it. If you can convince the lowest white man that he’s better than the best coloured man
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