Nicholas Kristof Quotes

Nothing happens in America without pressure.

A few people with a clear agenda can make a big difference in government.

Communicating with the public seems to be essential, because public concern is probably the only thing capable of overcoming the special interests that have obfuscated the topic

Policy makers do the right thing only if the public makes as much noise as possible.

The big umbrella issue is, do I make a bigger difference on the outside of political process or on the inside?

Today enormous effort goes into convincing the American public that we're just consumers of media manipulation and sound-bites and spin doctors. That we care only about ourselves, money, and stuff. That acting out of passion and conviction doesn't make a difference. But all history shows that it does.

We live in the age of communication. Write letters to the editor. Speak to your congressman, to your senator. If you are young, especially young people are taken by this human rights activities. They should organize the universities.

A newspaper is not just for reporting the news as it is, but to make people mad enough to do something about it.

All I ask is this: Do something. Try something. Speaking out, showing up, writing a letter, a check, a strongly worded e-mail. Pick a cause – there are few unworthy ones. And nudge yourself past the brink of tacit support to action. Once a month, once a year, or just once...Even just learning enough about a subject so you can speak against an opponent eloquently makes you an unusual personage. Start with that. Any one of you would have cried out, would have intervened, had you been in that crowd in Bashiqa. Well thanks to digital technology, you’re all in it now.

I became active in politics because I saw the possibility, if we all sat back and did nothing, of a world in which there would no longer be any stages for actors to act on.

There is a weapon we can fight with. That is the weapon of political action.

Before you're a writer, you're a citizen, a human being, and therefore the weapons of the citizen are at your disposal to use or not use.

We can all become activists and raise questions.

'Unlikely Brothers' talks about the importance of citizen action and shows why and how we can make a difference.

I want to do public speaking and cause campaigning. I want to write a book.

I always saw politics as an expansion of my role as a mom.

When the size of the group supporting your cause reaches a critical mass, any legislator or elected official has to pay attention.

As a young man, causes of one kind or another engaged me, and I thought the media is where you express yourself in that. I lived with the illusion, for quite a long time, that if you described something accurately, something would be done about it.

Anybody intelligent enough to realize what America is, is not going to sit around and do nothing about it. They're going to be the same way that I am. They're going to be the same way our fans are. They're going to be pissed.

I never like to get political, but when you have the ability, through your media, to influence a large mass of people, I would want to be a part of the evolving cycle of progress vs. keeping things the way that they are.

Someone who does an act. In a democratic society, you're supposed to be an activist; that is, you participate. It could be a letter written to an editor.

I learnt that if I want to make any difference, or changes to my world, then I've got to be involved. We need passion - that's how things change.

I'm not sure I am a politician. I would say that I am still an artist, and I'm trying to use politics as an instrument for change.

The electronic media introduced this idea to the larger audience very, very quickly. We spent years and years and years meeting with activists all over Europe to lay the groundwork for a political response, as we did here.

I want to use my music to deliver a political message and sometimes to denounce, but I don't want to be a politician.