Pankaj Mishra Quotes

In order to have a society in which public issues can be openly and vigorously debated, it is not necessary to allow the brutalization of innocent victims.

I think where political issues invade moral situations, spiritual leaders have to speak out.

I certainly think it's very important that writers as citizens - not necessarily as writers, but just as ordinary citizens - should talk about things that matter to them.

In its conception the literature prize belongs to days when a writer could still be thought of as, by virtue of his or her occupation, a sage, someone with no institutional affiliations who could offer an authoritative word on our times as well as on our moral life.

One must not politicize science. But the converse is not necessarily true. There's no reason why scientists can not go into the public sphere. In fact, I would argue they should.

American democracy is greater with free speech and open dialogue.

Public television is a very important thing for our human race, and it allows us the ability to discuss the elephants in the room and understand stories beyond the headlines.

Our democracy works because the parties air and debate their differences in public.

It's hard not to be political.

Candidates seeking the highest office in our government deserve the opportunity to be fully heard.

Omidyar Network first supported Africa Check in 2014 when they were a team of just three dedicated people intent on building a more fact-based environment for public debate in South Africa.

Just because I am paying attention to politics and culture doesn't mean that I should be talking about the health-care bill, talking about the minutiae.

If you're trying to talk about public issues and politics and showcase it in a positive, different way, I think people like the idea.

I spent a lot of my early blogging career sort of highlighting all the ills of the government in Kenya and all the corruption and problems.

Listen, in the same way that politics and government allow people to engage in large issues, media does the same.

I know it's very comfortable to sit at home and stay with your family, kids and friends and not worry about anything. But with the platform we have we should be the people that scream at the social issues and put them out there so as a society we can move forward.

If you don't believe in God, then where is your moral barometer?

What we have got to do - especially with younger people, especially with people not heavily involved in the political process - is to make sure that every morning, afternoon, and evening, they are seeing the presentation of issues that are relevant to their lives.

You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time, not only with the votes we cast, but the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideas.

Truth and non-violence are not cloistered virtues but applicable as much in the forum and the legislatures as in the market place.

Nevertheless, during the sixty years of the twentieth century many problems have come increasingly into the realm of acceptable public discussion.

As far as my work for causes or social issues, that's something I'm doing as a private citizen.

Everything that liberals want they call a civil right. This avoids them having to argue about it and puts the halo around the issue.

Public problems collapse into the limited and depoliticized register of private issues.

Famous crime stories almost always lead to the passing of new laws. There's a great many intersections between this unseemly tabloid phenomena and serious social issues and we never get to that intersection because serious people don't like to talk about that unattractive stuff.