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Ever since I entered Parliament in January, people have been asking me: Why have you gone into politics? As in: “Are you nuts?” No, I’m not nuts. This is my country, after all.

— Michael Ignatieff Canada in the World Speech, University of Ottawa (2006)

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More quotes by Michael Ignatieff

The [Afghans] understand the difficult truth that their best hope of freedom lies in a temporary experience of imperial rule.

To defeat evil, we may have to traffic in evils: indefinite detention of suspects, coercive interrogations, targeted assassinations, even pre-emptive war.

You shouldn’t go into politics just to prove yourself—skydiving would be an easier path.

Coalition if necessary, but not necessarily a coalition.

A liberal society cannot be defended by herbivores. We need carnivores to save us, but we had better make sure the meat-eaters hunt only on our orders.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Michael Ignatieff (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.