Timothy Garton Ash Quotes

"Nuclear proliferation - the proliferation of WMDs altogether - is one of the greatest dangers of our time."

"I love this country, but the union jack leaves me cold."

"I will never forget meeting Suu Kyi in Rangoon - now officially known as Yangon - some six years ago, when she was still able to leave her house."

"That said, the question remains: how to strike the balance between free speech and mutual respect in this mixed-up world, both blessed and cursed with instant communication? We should not fight fire with fire, threats with threats."

"The key to the survival of liberty in the modern world is the embrace of multiple identities."

"Yet another thing Canadians and Europeans have in common is an obsession with the United States, and with distinguishing themselves from it, often by crude stereotyping."

"No country in Europe has a larger proportion of men and women of immigrant descent, mainly from the African continent and mainly Muslim: an estimated six to seven million of them, or more than 10% of the population."

"One thing, however, I know with certainty: violence, or the direct threat of violence, of the kind we have seen in the past few days, is totally unjustified as a response to any published word or image."

"What we in the community of established liberal democracies should do is not abandon the pursuit of democratisation but refine it."

"After saying yes to Turkey, the EU is having difficulty finding clear and consistent grounds for saying no to other, still more remote candidates - but being in the general vicinity of Europe does seem to be a continuing requirement."

"Canada is rich, so would be a much-needed net contributor to the European budget at a time when the EU has been taking in lots of poorer states."

"I have also been saddened, though hardly surprised, by the weakness of the EU's reaction to the criminal attack on the Danish embassy in Syria, which seems to have been permitted, if not actively encouraged, by the Syrian regime."

"To be in Florence is to reflect on Europe's intricate diversity - and its lost creativity."