---
title: "2 Academic life Quotes By Michael Ignatieff"
description: "2 Academic life quotes by Michael Ignatieff. Plus more from Michael Ignatieff and more Academic life sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/efc/michael-ignatieff-3146_academic_in-academic-life-false-ideas-are-merely_241590.jpg"
---

> [In academic life, false ideas are merely false, and useless ones can be fun to play with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/in-academic-life-false-ideas-are-merely-false-and-useless-ones-can-be/)

[Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/efc/michael-ignatieff-3146_academic_in-academic-life-false-ideas-are-merely_241590.jpg)

> [In academic life, false ideas are merely false and useless ones can be fun to play with. In political life, false ideas can ruin the lives of millions and useless ones can waste precious resources. An intellectual's responsibility for his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/in-academic-life-false-ideas-are-merely-false-and-useless-ones-can-be-2/)

[Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f9f/michael-ignatieff-3146_academic_in-academic-life-false-ideas-are-merely_2636574.jpg)

## More by Michael Ignatieff

> [The Only cure for nihilism is for liberal democratic societies - their electorates, their judiciary, and their political leadership- to insist that force is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/the-only-cure-for-nihilism-is-for-liberal-democratic-societies-their/)

[Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/)

> [What really matters is getting new people in. The constitutional changes matter, but the thing that the party mustn't do is turn in on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/what-really-matters-is-getting-new-people-in-the-constitutional/)

[Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/)

> [The medium's gaze is brief, intense, and promiscuous. The shelf life of the moral causes it makes its own is brutally short.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/the-medium-s-gaze-is-brief-intense-and-promiscuous-the-shelf-life-of/)

[Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/)

> [Those with a gift for action, for their part, often express contempt for those whose gifts are more reflective. Men of action like to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/those-with-a-gift-for-action-for-their-part-often-express-contempt/)

[Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/)

> [There are lots of nations in the world or national peoples who don't yet have states. They're inside someone else's state and they want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/there-are-lots-of-nations-in-the-world-or-national-peoples-who-don-t/)

[Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/)

> [There's a civic nationalism in Britain and dozens of other countries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/there-s-a-civic-nationalism-in-britain-and-dozens-of-other-countries/)

[Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/)

> [Affirming belief that America is an exceptional nation has become a test of patriotism in American politics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/affirming-belief-that-america-is-an-exceptional-nation-has-become-a/)

[Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/)

> [Both Iraq and Syria are a fissile mixture of ethnicities and religions thrown together after Versailles by departing French and British imperialists and only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/both-iraq-and-syria-are-a-fissile-mixture-of-ethnicities-and/)

[Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/)

> [The legitimacy of coercive acts in a democracy arises from the process by which they are justified and by the degree to which we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/the-legitimacy-of-coercive-acts-in-a-democracy-arises-from-the/)

[Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/)

> [Some of our finest leaders were not intellectuals at all, and I admire them enormously because they weren't. Harry Truman wasn't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/some-of-our-finest-leaders-were-not-intellectuals-at-all-and-i-admire/)

[Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/)

> [If you get the access to see history happen, do you understand the history when it does happen? And the answer to that question…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/if-you-get-the-access-to-see-history-happen-do-you-understand-the/)

[Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/)

> [I have been a journalist, off and on, since I was 17. I was a copy boy for the 'New York Times,' when it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/i-have-been-a-journalist-off-and-on-since-i-was-17-i-was-a-copy-boy/)

[Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/)

> [In academic life, false ideas are merely false, and useless ones can be fun to play with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/in-academic-life-false-ideas-are-merely-false-and-useless-ones-can-be/)

[Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/)

> [Liberal democracy has endured because its institutions are designed for handling morally hazardous forms of coercive power. It puts the question of how far…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/liberal-democracy-has-endured-because-its-institutions-are-designed/)

[Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/)

> [An intellectual may be interested in ideas and policies for their own sake, but a politician's interest is exclusively in the question of whether…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/an-intellectual-may-be-interested-in-ideas-and-policies-for-their-own/)

[Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/)

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