Pankaj Mishra Quotes

A government, to afford the needful protection and exercise proper care for the welfare of a people, must have homogeneity in its constituents. It is this necessity which has divided the human race into separate nations, and finally has defeated the grandest efforts which conquerors have made to give unlimited extent to their domain.

There are lots of nations in the world or national peoples who don't yet have states. They're inside someone else's state and they want a state of their own.

Nonetheless, we continue to be obsessed with finding or inventing a European nation which, as in the nation state, guarantees homogeneity and thus an appropriate form of democracy and centralized government.

There is a difference between a military mission and the aspiration for the long-term plans for the country. What we want is a stable enough Afghanistan, able to look after its own security so we can leave without the fear of it imploding... But let's be clear - it's not going to be perfect.

It is a hard and difficult thing to do to create a nation

Sub-national, ethnic or tribal factions cannot expect to undermine the political unit in which they exist while claiming the privileges of a sovereign nation-state.

The more globalized the world becomes, the less traumatic it is for nationalists to split from their states.

Throughout history, countries have sought to expand ….Today, the goal of most wars is too make countries smaller rather than larger.

The elites have become international, and they've ceased to have a primary loyalty to the nation-state.

A nation is a thing that lives and acts like a man and men are the particles of which it is composed.

Nations which don't find their national identities will be preyed upon by other nations.

Going back to South Sudan after the independence took place was deeply emotional for me because I had gone through the civil war with my family just before going to seek refuge in London.

The national team should unite under one flag, leaving out the club stories.

None of Europe's modern nations are genuinely native.

Economic growth is not sustainable without nation-building and, even of greater importance, state building.

Me myself, I'm not a big fan of the idea of countries.

I'm not a fan in a rock concert, you see. I am a political leader in a great nation of the world. What interests me are France's interests.

Forgetfulness, and I would even say historical error, are essential in the creation of a nation.

We must strive to form a comprehensive sublime nationalism whose first principal is national geographic unity and must strengthen this unity with deeds not with words.

All nations teach their children to be "patriotic", and abuse the other nations for fostering nationalism.

Nationalism is a central ideology for people who are trying to establish their own states in which they can play a dominant role.

And now the really difficult part: We have to rebuild Iraq into a strong and independent nation that will one day hate the United States.

One can unite the French only under the threat of danger. One cannot simply bring together a nation that produces 265 kinds of cheese.

Nationalism as we know it, is the result of a form of state-sponsored branding.

The solution to Iraq - an Iraq that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself - is more than a military mission. Precisely the reason why I sent more troops into Baghdad.