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" Panic is a natural human response to danger, but it's one that severely compounds the risk. "
David Ignatius
Human
Risk
Danger
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" The truth is, as you know, people like us look at what's happening in the world, and then we project it forward. We think, 'If I know A and B, then I've got to know that C and D are coming,' and that's kind of the way it's been with my fiction. "
David Ignatius
Think
Truth
People
" Prominent scientists have become increasingly convinced that the connection between carbon emissions and rising temperatures is real, but skeptics have whole truckloads of studies to demonstrate the opposite. "
David Ignatius
Become
Connection
Opposite
" The American experiment has always depended on a measure of tolerance and good sense. "
David Ignatius
Tolerance
Measure
American
" It's fashionable with the Sarah Palin set to attack Harvard and treat its graduates as elitists. But if you spend any time on campus, you see students drawn from all over the world - an astonishing number these days with roots in Asia - whose chief assets are brainpower and hard work. "
David Ignatius
Hard Work
Work
Time
" Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and at Centcom, is probably the most decorated officer of his generation. "
David Ignatius
Commander
Generation
Most
" Paradoxically, the United States' determination to protect its troops can be self-defeating. Allies and adversaries see U.S. forces living in secure compounds, eating fancy chow and minimizing their exposure to potential terrorist assaults. "
David Ignatius
Determination
Potential
Eating
" The framers hated the tyranny of King George, but they were also afraid of the mob. That's why they put so many checks and balances into our system, to guard against the excesses of a government that might be inflamed by public passion or perverted by a dictator's whim. "
David Ignatius
King
Passion
Tyranny
" If you walk into the front hallway of the CIA, you will see, on your left, a statue of William 'Wild Bill' Donovan. Bill Donovan was the person who created the OSS, the Office of Strategic Services, which was America's spy agency during World War II and then kind of morphed into what's now the CIA. "
David Ignatius
You
America
World
" The Founding Fathers' instructions were clear: The right to free speech includes bad speech; it means tolerance of ideas that many find obnoxious. "
David Ignatius
Ideas
Bad
Free
" I've tried, in 'Bloodmoney,' to tell a story that gets at the crazy relationship between the ISI and the CIA, these absolutely fascinating, often mutually destructive two scorpions in a bottle kind of relationship that they have. "
David Ignatius
Kind
Two
Relationship
" Self-proclaimed saviors and other outliers come and go throughout our political history. Occasionally, they're successful; most times, they're not. But the system has rebalanced toward the basic principles of tolerance, freedom and democracy that were set forth by the Founders. "
David Ignatius
Political
Democracy
History
" This is a universal human dream - that brains, not brawn, will rule - and the fact that America has the world's finest institutions of higher education may be our greatest single national asset. "
David Ignatius
World
Dream
Education
" The value of catastrophic events is that they can help people face up to problems that are otherwise impossible to address. "
David Ignatius
Value
Impossible
Help
" At the center of President Obama's strategy for dealing with the Islamic State is an empty space. It's supposed be filled by a 'Sunni ground force,' but after more than a year of effort, it's still not there. Unless this gap is filled, Obama's plan won't work. "
David Ignatius
Space
Effort
Plan
" Big mistakes were made in Benghazi, and people should be held accountable. But the brave officers who staff American posts in crisis zones know how dangerous the work is. "
David Ignatius
People
American
Brave
" Things felt pretty crazy on earth in 1969, but the cosmos was friendly. Astronauts had round-trip tickets; they got home. "
David Ignatius
Home
Crazy
Earth
" Politicians often call for sanctions as a way of sounding tough when they don't want to take riskier measures. "
David Ignatius
Tough
Take
Politicians
" Machiavelli did believe that it was better to appear to be good than to be good. If you're good, you're just too vulnerable, but if you appear to be good, you get all the benefits plus you can be sneaky and, when necessary, stab someone in the back. "
David Ignatius
You
Good
Believe
" I began writing fiction because it was the only way to tell all the intricacies of a real-life spy story. "
David Ignatius
Way
Only
Spy
" Fear brings out the best in some people and the worst in others. It's a test of character, for individuals and nations. "
David Ignatius
Best
Test
People
" In a chaotic world, U.S. diplomats will probably have even less contact with the people they need to reach. "
David Ignatius
Will
People
World
" Russia is emerging as an essential diplomatic and security partner for the U.S. in Syria, despite the Obama administration's opposition to Moscow's support for President Bashar al-Assad. "
David Ignatius
Support
Partner
Russia
" Politicians need to rethink their reflexive invocations of the Second Amendment and the idea that the gun lobby is too powerful to challenge. "
David Ignatius
Idea
Gun
Challenge
" I'm as prone to 'declinism' as the next over-mortgaged middle-aged guy. "
David Ignatius
Guy
Prone
Next
" Donald Trump tests the limits of campaign speech. He makes false statements and refuses to correct them. He attacks other religions and ethnic groups, inflaming domestic tension and foreign terrorist rage. "
David Ignatius
Rage
Religions
Speech
" A disaffected America can be drawn into a civilized - but disruptive - dialogue about political change and reformation. "
David Ignatius
Change
Dialogue
America
" Movies have a way of distilling moments in our culture, and 'Gravity' may be the defining film for the lost-in-space year of 2013: Nothing works. "
David Ignatius
Way
Movies
Moments
" Europeans don't like to talk about intelligence, and they often pretend their countries don't spy. "
David Ignatius
Pretend
Spy
Talk
" Maybe it's the spy novelist in me looking for a future plot, but I hope the U.S. and its allies are thinking how to operate 'unconventionally' in Iraq and Syria in ways that undermine the Islamic State. "
David Ignatius
Me
Hope
Future
" 2011 is one of those years that historians are likely to look back on as a 'hinge.' And the truth, at once frightening and exhilarating, is that we don't know yet which way the door will swing. "
David Ignatius
Door
Truth
Swing