Those with a gift for action, for their part, often express contempt for those whose gifts are more reflective. Men of action like to say, 'Those who can, do, those who can't, teach,' forgetting that those who teach get to write the history books.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the value of both action and reflection, particularly highlighting the importance of teaching in shaping history.
Michael Ignatieff's quote suggests a tension between action and reflection, where individuals who take action often dismiss those who reflect and teach. It points out that while doers are active in their pursuits, teachers play a critical role in influencing how history and knowledge are recorded and understood, thus both roles are essential in a balanced society.
In practice
In a discussion about the education system, one might say, 'As Ignatieff reminds us, those who teach truly shape our understanding of history.'
Genocide is not just a murderous madness; it is, more deeply, a politics that promises a utopia beyond politics - one people, one land, one truth, the end of difference. Since genocide is a form of political utopia, it remains an enduring temptation in any multiethnic and multicultural society in crisis.
Commerce has changed the ethics of citizenship and the incentives for national service. America now buys private contractors - we used to call them mercenaries - to do the country's fighting.
Desert Storm created the pattern for the American way of war that eventually prevailed in Kosovo. America learned from Vietnam that unilateral use of force eventually forfeits international legitimacy and domestic support. Desert Storm demonstrated the political necessity of coalition warfare.
Communism may be over as an economic system, but as a model of state domination, it is very much alive in the People's Republic of China and in Putin's police state.
Trouble is, we call politics a game, but it isn't one. There is no referee, and the teams make up the rules as they go along. You can't cry foul or offside in politics. Almost anything goes.
How do you keep war accountable to the American people when war becomes invisible and virtual?
To read a book, to think it over, and to write out notes is a useful exercise; a book which will not repay some hard thought is not worth publishing.
The books that help you most are those which make you think that most. The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading; but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty.
Excessive literary production is a social offense.
Every form of true education trains the student in self-reliance
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.
Give yourself permission to dream. Fuel your kids' dreams too. Once in a while, that might even mean letting them stay up past their bedtimes.
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