---
title: "3 Call Quotes By Michael Ignatieff"
description: "3 Call quotes by Michael Ignatieff. Plus more from Michael Ignatieff and more Call sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9b/michael-ignatieff-3146_about_what-s-distinctively-shocking-about-mach_340192.jpg"
---

> [What's distinctively shocking about Machiavelli is that he didn't care. He believed not only that politicians must do evil in the name…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/what-s-distinctively-shocking-about-machiavelli-is-that-he-didn-t/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9b/michael-ignatieff-3146_about_what-s-distinctively-shocking-about-mach_340192.jpg)

> [Trouble is, we call politics a game, but it isn't one. There is no referee, and the teams make up the rules…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/trouble-is-we-call-politics-a-game-but-it-isn-t-one-there-is-no/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b1/michael-ignatieff-3146_almost_trouble-is-we-call-politics-a-game-but-i_1842833.jpg)

> [Commerce has changed the ethics of citizenship and the incentives for national service. America now buys private contractors - we used to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/commerce-has-changed-the-ethics-of-citizenship-and-the-incentives-for/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d4/michael-ignatieff-3146_america_commerce-has-changed-the-ethics-of-citiz_2972950.jpg)

## Other authors on Call

## 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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