Mustafa Kemal's government was certainly authoritarian, but he had a saying which is profoundly true, I don't remember the exact words, but what he said was that I am a dictator so that there will never again be a dictator… — Bernard Lewis Copy Share Image
Islam explicitly rejects dictatorship and there are no traditions of the Prophet or passages in the Qur'an which clearly give dictators this support. — Bernard Lewis Copy Share Image
“Different groups in the [Middle East] drew two lessons from [return of the shah in Iran] - one, that Americans were willing to use… — Bernard Lewis Copy Share Image
The Cold War philosophy of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), which prevented the former Soviet Union and the United States from using the nuclear weapons… — Bernard Lewis Copy Share Image
You see in the Muslim traditions, it's very clear: maintaining law and consultation, not being arbitrary and oppressive. Consultation. And also in the Muslim… — Bernard Lewis Copy Share Image
To accept the story of the Arab destruction of the library of Alexandria, one must explain how it is that so dramatic an event… — Bernard Lewis Copy Share Image
I know it is said repeatedly that I was in support of the American invasion in Iraq. It is simply not true. I was… — Bernard Lewis Copy Share Image
Certainly Tunisia was the first in Muslim world. It's been like that for a long time and women play an important part in Tunisia.… — Bernard Lewis Copy Share Image
In the West nowadays, it's very common to talk about the Judeo- Christian tradition. It's a common term. The term is relatively modern but… — Bernard Lewis Copy Share Image
When we talk about the Judeo-Christian or the Judeo-Muslim tradition, it's important to remember that we are speaking of a Jewish component of civilization,… — Bernard Lewis Copy Share Image
In opposing we always talk about freedom in the Western world, Muslims always talk about justice. Very often we mean the same thing. But… — Bernard Lewis Copy Share Image
You see in Turkey, they had a remarkable success story in building up a democracy. I was in Istanbul for most of the year… — Bernard Lewis Copy Share Image
The word "democracy" is a Western word obviously. It doesn't exist in Arabic. Democratiya is a loan word. We in the Western world make… — Bernard Lewis Copy Share Image
In the Christian world, as you remember, Christianity is in the 21st century, Islam is in the 15th century. I don't mean to say… — Bernard Lewis Copy Share Image
![“Different groups in the [Middle East] drew two lessons from [return of the shah in Iran] - one, that Americans were willing to use both force and intrigue to install or restore their puppet rulers in Middle Eastern countries; the other, that they were not reliable patrons when these puppets were…” quote by Bernard Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/89b/bernard-lewis-11653_middle-east_different-groups-in-the-middle-east-drew_37501.jpg)
