“ However: the predictable consequence of the nanny state, even the post-ideological nanny state, was that for anyone who had grown up knowing nothing different it was the duty of the state to make good… Tony Judt
“ Elio Vittorini observed in 1957 that ever since Napoleon, France had proved impermeable to any foreign influence except German philosophy: and that was still true two decades later... By the time Germ… Tony Judt
“ Elections to Parliament, congressional elections and the choice of National Assembly members are still our only means for converting public opinion into collective action under law. So young people mu… Tony Judt
“ East and West, Asia and Europe, were always walls in the mind at least as much as lines on the earth Tony Judt
“ Contrary to a widespread assumption that has crept back into Anglo-American political jargon, few derive pleasure from handouts: Tony Judt
“ By the end of the 1970s, a clear majority of the employed population of Britain, Germany, France, the Benelux countries, Scandinavia and the Alpine countries worked in the service sector—communication… Tony Judt
“ Behind every cynical (or merely incompetent) banking executive and trader sits an economist, assuring them (and us) from a position of unchallenged intellectual authority that their actions are public… Tony Judt
“ As recently as the 1970s, the idea that the point of life was to get rich and that governments existed to facilitate this would have been ridiculed: not only by capitalism's traditional critics but al… Tony Judt
“ We have smuggled in a misleadingly ‘ethical’ vocabulary to bolster our economic arguments, Tony Judt
“ Somewhat different. Many European countries have long practiced something resembling social democracy: but they have forgotten how to preach it. Social democrats today are defensive and apologetic. Cr… Tony Judt
“ Life closely track your income: residents of wealthy districts can expect to live longer and better. Tony Judt
“ Without idealism, politics is reduced to a form of social accounting, the day-to-day administration of men and things. This too is something that a conservative can survive well enough. But for the Le… Tony Judt
“ We no longer ask of a judicial ruling or a legislative act: is it good? Is it fair? Is it just? Is it right? Will it help bring about a better society or a better world? Those used to be the political… Tony Judt
“ Today’s schoolchildren and college students can imagine little else but the search for a lucrative job. Tony Judt
“ The wider the spread between the wealthy few and the impoverished many, the worse the social problems: a statement which appears to be true for rich and poor countries alike. Tony Judt
“ The only thing worse than too much government is too little: in failed states, people suffer at least as much violence and injustice as under authoritarian rule, and in addition their trains do not ru… Tony Judt
“ The materialistic and selfish quality of contemporary life is not inherent in the human condition. Much of what appears ‘natural’ today dates from the 1980s: the obsession with wealth creation, the cu… Tony Judt
“ The loss of social purpose articulated through public services actually increases the unrestrained powers of the over-mighty state. Tony Judt
“ The idea that it was the state’s business to know what was good for people—while we accept it uncomplainingly in school curriculums and hospital practices—smacked of eugenics and perhaps euthanasia. Tony Judt
