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" 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
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" 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 best restraint is old-fashioned market discipline, in which financial traders know that they, personally, will lose a ton of money if they take risky bets that don't pan out. "
David Ignatius
Financial
Best
Discipline
" As so many writers know, the experience of creating an imaginary world is closer to dreaming than it is to normal, grit-your-teeth work. It's preconscious rather than conscious. Ideas fall into your head, and the book writes you, rather than the other way around. "
David Ignatius
World
You
Work
" 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
" The worm of paranoia begins to eat into even the hardest adversary. "
David Ignatius
Worm
Paranoia
Begins
" When historians look at the Obama presidency, they're likely to credit him especially for doing the politically unpopular things that were needed in 2009 to salvage the financial wreckage. "
David Ignatius
Doing
Look
Credit
" A world in which there are no secrets that can be protected at all is going to be a pretty dangerous world. "
David Ignatius
Pretty
Going
Dangerous
" 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
" 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
" The revival of the U.S. financial system after the crash of 2008 is arguably the Obama administration's biggest domestic policy success. "
David Ignatius
System
Policy
Financial
" CIA officers aren't idiots. They knew they were heading into deep water - legally and morally - when they signed up for the interrogation program. That's part of the agency's ethos - doing the hard jobs that other departments prudently avoid. "
David Ignatius
Avoid
Doing
Hard
" 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
" The nation's chronic weakness is its political system, which is nearing dysfunction. If the U.S. can elect better political leadership, it should be able to manage problems better than most competitors. "
David Ignatius
Better
Leadership
Political
" 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
" During an economic crisis, what matters is that the government keeps its foot on the accelerator. "
David Ignatius
Matters
Government
Crisis
" Intelligence services exist to do things that are illegal abroad. They exist to tell lies. "
David Ignatius
Intelligence
Abroad
Lies
" Sometimes good countries are so traumatized by events that they lose their bearings and embrace bad leaders. "
David Ignatius
Sometimes
Bad
Events
" 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
" Frightened people want to protect themselves, sometimes without thinking about others. Often, they get angry and want to find someone to blame for catastrophe. Inevitably, they spread information without checking if it's true. "
David Ignatius
True
Blame
People
" Hedge-fund managers make too much money relative to their social utility. I wish their rewards were a bit closer to those of, say, schoolteachers. "
David Ignatius
Wish
I Wish
Money
" Enter the candidates on horseback: While military leaders can sometimes be dangerous in politics, our best generals and admirals embody the democratic values and leadership skills for which the country is yearning. "
David Ignatius
Values
Leadership
Best
" World War II provides a string of celebrated cases of deception and manipulation. "
David Ignatius
World
Deception
War
" Training a reliable military force that adheres to Western norms and standards is the work of a generation, not a few months. "
David Ignatius
Training
Work
Military
" 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
" Making economic policy isn't a popularity contest, especially when financial markets are in a panic. "
David Ignatius
Economic
Panic
Policy
" 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
" Journalists couldn't do their jobs overseas without taking risks, and the same is true for diplomats and intelligence officers. "
David Ignatius
Risks
Taking Risks
True
" Sometimes James Bond movies drive me crazy. They're fun to watch, but they don't have anything to do at all with what intelligence officers really do. "
David Ignatius
Fun
Drive
Crazy
" 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