A neoconservative is a liberal who's been mugged by reality. A neoliberal is a liberal who's been mugged by reality but has refused to press charges.
Irving KristolRead
No modern nation has ever constructed a foreign policy that was acceptable to its intellectuals
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that the foreign policies of modern nations often fail to appease their intellectuals.
Irving Kristol's quote reflects the ongoing tension between policy makers and intellectuals. It indicates that foreign policies, shaped by practical needs and political agendas, rarely align with the ideals and critiques of intellectuals, thus creating a divide between these two groups regarding national objectives and ethical considerations in foreign relations.
Themes
Foreign PolicyIntellectualsPoliticsNational InterestsTension
In practice
Example use cases
In a political debate about international relations, one might use this quote to illustrate the disconnect between policymakers and academic opinions.
More from Irving Kristol
All quotes βIf you believe that no one was ever corrupted by a book, you have also to believe that no one was ever improved by a book.
Irving KristolRead
The really difficult moral issues arise, not from a confrontation of good and evil, but from a collision between two goods
Irving KristolRead
I have observed over the years that the unanticipated consequences of social action are always more important, and usually less agreeable, than the intended consequences.
Irving KristolRead
There are different kinds of truths for different kinds of people. There are truths appropriate for children; truths that are appropriate for students; truths that are appropriate for educated adults; and truths that are appropriate for highly educated adults, and the notion that there should be one set of truths available to everyone is a modern democratic fallacy. It doesn't work.
Irving KristolRead
You have to know one big thing and stick with it. The leaders who had one very big idea and one very big commitment. This permitted them to create something. Those are the ones who leave a legacy.
Irving KristolRead
Similar quotes
It's too much show business and too much prompting, too much artificiality, and not really debates. They're rehearsed appearances.
George H. W. BushRead
The countries of Europe are too small to guarantee their peoples the necessary prosperity and social development. The European states must constitute themselves into a federation.
Jean MonnetRead
Politics is not predictions and politics is not observations. Politics is what we do. Politics is what we do, politics is what we create, by what we work for, by what we hope for and what we dare to imagine.
Paul WellstoneRead
Living political constitutions must be Darwinian in structure and in practice. Society is a living organism and must obey the laws of life, not of mechanics; it must develop. All that progressives ask or desire is permission-in an era when 'development,' 'evolution,' is the scientific word-to interpret the Constitution according to the Darwinian principle; all they ask is recognition of the fact that a nation is a living thing and not a machine.
Woodrow WilsonRead
No party has a monopoly on wisdom. No democracy works without compromise. But when Governor Romney and his allies in Congress tell us we can somehow lower our deficit by spending trillions more on new tax breaks for the wealthy - well, you do the math. I refuse to go along with that. And as long as I'm President, I never will.
Barack ObamaRead
The Latin root of the word 'politics' means 'of the people.' Politics is about something bigger than electoral politics; in that sense, I feel like I'm already involved.
Marianne WilliamsonRead