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 More Quotes by David Ignatius More Quotes From David Ignatius We haven't usually had to face the extreme questions about liberty and order because we're not a nation of extremists. We love freedom and good government both. David Ignatius face good freedom love 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 government Sometimes good countries are so traumatized by events that they lose their bearings and embrace bad leaders. David Ignatius lose bad good sometimes 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 strategy effort space work Bob Gates has unusual standing in the debate about the Obama administration's foreign policy: He was defense secretary for both a hawkish President George W. Bush and a wary President Obama. He understood Bush's desire to project power and Obama's skepticism. David Ignatius debate standing power desire The secret of any kind of reporting is to go with a guide. So if you, you're going to see Hezbollah in Beirut, you go with someone who knows the local people, and you'll be fine. David Ignatius someone go you people A world in which there are no secrets that can be protected at all is going to be a pretty dangerous world. David Ignatius secrets pretty dangerous world 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 walk you war world 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 look you truth people The CIA in real life, we know, is looking for new kinds of cover. It's looking for new platforms, as they like to say, and it's trying to use the revolution in communications technology, the ability to use all sorts of corporate entities in ways that are hard to detect to get our spies in the places where they need to be. David Ignatius looking revolution technology life The world has changed, the CIA is having to change, and again, the challenge for someone like me as a spy novelist is to write realistically about where they're actually going. David Ignatius challenge me change world 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 drive me intelligence crazy I began writing fiction because it was the only way to tell all the intricacies of a real-life spy story. David Ignatius story tell writing way 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 you experience work world This experience of getting so lost in my writing that I lose track of time, or of anything outside the imagined world, is a release for me. David Ignatius me experience time world Empty political space will be filled by extremists unless the United States and its allies build strong local forces that can suppress terrorist groups and warlords both. When the U.S. creates such local forces, it must be persistent. If it withdraws from these efforts, as America did in Iraq in 2011, it invites mayhem. David Ignatius will political space strong Middle Eastern wars rarely end with outright victory and permanent stability, so the word 'settlement' may promise too much. At best, for many years, it may simply mean stable ceasefire lines, reduced bloodshed, fewer refugees, and less terrorism. David Ignatius end best terrorism victory Intelligence services exist to do things that are illegal abroad. They exist to tell lies. David Ignatius lies things tell intelligence
