“Just after the 11 September 2001 attacks, the Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk (who later won the Nobel Prize) observed, in Istanbul, the ordinary and peaceable inhabitants of the city displaying great joy at the collapse of the Twin Towers. What… — Tzvetan Todorov Copy Share Image
“For the same reason , the American government has invented a completely new juridical category , that of 'illegal enemy combatants'. In general, the perpetrators of violence against the population clearly fall into two groups which, once they have been arrested, come under different jurisdictions, but still possess certain rights. In times of peace, they are criminals, protected in every… — Tzvetan Todorov Copy Share
“When we examine, not the language of the propaganda, but the witness of the combatants themselves, religion does not occupy the first place. Their motivations are more often secular: they mention their sympathy for a population reduced to poverty, the victims of the whim of ruling classes that live in luxury and corruption- rulers able to maintain themselves in power… — Tzvetan Todorov Copy Share
We should not be simply fighting evil in the name of good, but struggling against the certainties of people who claim always to know… — Tzvetan Todorov Copy Share Image
For evil to take place, the acts of a few people are not sufficient; the great majority also has to remain indifferent. That is… — Tzvetan Todorov Copy Share Image
“Nobody is entirely satisfied with the condition in which he or she lives: we often have the impression that these conditions are getting worse.… — Tzvetan Todorov Copy Share Image
“It is no longer necessary to resort to the power of a state in order to inflict heavy losses on your enemy, since a… — Tzvetan Todorov Copy Share Image
“The thirst for vengeance did not wait for Islam to appear in the world, and the appeal to the law of an eye for… — Tzvetan Todorov Copy Share Image
“Every human being needs a set of norms and rules, traditions and customs, transmitted from the older to the younger; without those norms, the individual would never achieve the fullness of his humanity, but would be reduced to the condition of the 'Wild Child", condemned to anomie, in other words to the absence of all law and all order- an… — Tzvetan Todorov Copy Share
“When 'all is permitted' in the fight against terror, a counter-terrorist starts to become indistinguishable from the initial terrorist.” — Tzvetan Todorov Copy Share Image
“When an angry mob demands the death of a female English schoolteacher alleged to have insulted the Prophet, as happened in Sudan in November… — Tzvetan Todorov Copy Share Image
People who believe themselves to be the incarnation of good have a distorted view of the world. — Tzvetan Todorov Copy Share Image
