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Quotation of the Day for May 9, 2014"If I had supposed, as the Cold War came to an end, that the new world might be ruled by philosophers and poets, it was because I believed, foolishly, that the precarious civility and order of the states in which I live must be what all people rationally desire.... I began the journey as a liberal, and I end as one, but I cannot help thinking that liberal civilization - the rule of laws, not men, of argument in place of force, of compromise in place of violence - runs deeply against the human grain and is achieved and sustained only by the most unremitting struggle against human nature. The liberal virtues - tolerance, compromise, reason - remain as valuable as ever, but they cannot be preached to those who are mad with fear or mad with vengeance. In any case, preaching always rings hollow. We must be prepared to defend them by force, and the failure of the sated, cosmopolitan nations to do so has left the hungry nations sick with contempt for us." - Michael Ignatieff, in his memoir Blood and Belonging. Submitted by: Mike Krawchuk Apr. 25, 2014  |
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