“The difference between us and terrorists is supposed to be that we play by these rules, even if they don't. No, I haven't forgotten Hiroshima and My Lai. The American way of war has often been brutal, but at least our warriors are supposed to fight with honor and can be punished if they don't. There is no warrior's honor among terrorists.”

—  Michael Ignatieff

New York Times magazine op-ed piece, May 2, 2004

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The difference between us and terrorists is supposed to be that we play by these rules, even if they don't. No, I haven…" by Michael Ignatieff?
Michael Ignatieff photo
Michael Ignatieff 21
professor at Harvard Kennedy School and former Canadian pol… 1947

Related quotes

John le Carré photo

“There is a big difference between fighting the cold war and fighting radical Islam. The rules have changed and we haven't.”

John le Carré (1931) British novelist and spy

Radio interview (November 2008)

“While men compete in war, there will be warriors. While there are warriors, there will be princes among warriors. Among the princes will be kings, and among the kings an emperor.”

David Gemmell book Legend

Source: Drenai series, Legend, Pt 1: Against the Horde, Ch. 28

Yasser Arafat photo

“The difference between the revolutionary and the terrorist lies in the reason for which each fights. For whoever stands by a just cause and fights for the freedom and liberation of his land from the invaders, the settlers and the colonialists cannot possibly be called terrorist, otherwise the American people in their struggle for liberation from the British colonialists would have been terrorists; the European resistance against the Nazis would be terrorism, the struggle of the Asian, African and Latin American peoples would also be terrorism, and many of you who are in this Assembly hall were considered terrorists.”

Yasser Arafat (1929–2004) former Palestinian President, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient

1970s, Speech to UN General Assembly (1974)

Miyamoto Musashi photo

“It is said the warrior's is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways. Even if a man has no natural ability he can be a warrior by sticking assiduously to both divisions of the Way. Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death.”

Miyamoto Musashi (1584–1645) Japanese martial artist, writer, artist

Variant translation: First, as is often said, a samurai must have both literary and martial skills: to be versed in the two is his duty. Even if he has no natural ability, a samurai must train assiduously in both skills to a degree appropriate to his status. On the whole, if you are to assess the samurai's mind, you may think it is simply attentiveness to the manner of dying.
Go Rin No Sho (1645), The Ground Book

Norman G. Finkelstein photo

“To my thinking the honorable thing now is to show solidarity with Hezbollah as the US and Israel target it for liquidation. Indeed, looking back my chief regret is that I wasn’t even more forceful in publicly defending Hezbollah against terrorist intimidation and attack.”

Norman G. Finkelstein (1953) American political scientist and author

Reply to review in The Daily Star http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=4&ar=15
Other sourced statements

Doris Haddock photo

“Our country is supposed to be of the people, by the people and for the people, and if that's not worth fighting for I don't know what is.”

Doris Haddock (1910–2010) American political activist
Paulo Coelho photo

“Every Warrior of the Light has suffered for the most trivial of reasons. Every Warrior of the Light has, at least once, believed he was not a Warrior of the Light.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

The Manual of the Warrior of Light (1997)
Context: Every Warrior of the Light has suffered for the most trivial of reasons. Every Warrior of the Light has, at least once, believed he was not a Warrior of the Light.
Every Warrior of the Light has failed in his spiritual duties.
Every Warrior of the Light has said "yes" when he wanted to say "no."
Every Warrior of the Light has hurt someone he loved.
That is why he is a Warrior of the Light, because he has been through all this and yet has never lost hope of being better than he is.
Each stone, each bend cries welcome to him. He identifies with the mountains and the streams, he sees something of his own soul in the plants and the animals and the birds of the field.
Then, accepting the help of God and of God's signs, he allows his personal legend to guide him toward the tasks that life has reserved for him.
On some nights, he has nowhere to sleep, on others he suffers from insomnia. "That's just how it is," thinks the warrior. "I was the one who chose to walk this path."
In these words lies all his power: He chose the path along which he is walking and so has no complaints.

H.L. Mencken photo

“The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught.”

H.L. Mencken (1880–1956) American journalist and writer

Prejudices, Fourth Series, ch. 11 (1924)
1920s

“Remember the quiet wonders. The world has more need of them than it has for warriors. And this I will tell you as well: One cannot seek to uphold honor in a being that has none.”

Charles de Lint book Moonheart

Part 3, Chapter 7 (p. 386)
Moonheart (1984)

Frances Hodgson Burnett photo

“But I suppose there might be good in things, even if we don't see it.”

Frances Hodgson Burnett A Little Princess

Source: A Little Princess

Related topics