We have responsibilities for others, not just across space but across time. We have responsibilities to people who came before us. They left us a world of institutions, ideas or possibilities for which we, in turn, owe them something. One of the things we owe them is not to squander them. Tony Judt ideainstitutionleave share on social
Obviously a primary liberal conviction is that we should be tolerant of other peoples' convictions. But if we believe in something, we had better find ways to say so convincingly. Tony Judt convictionconvincinglyfind Change image and share on social
History can show you that it was one pile of bad stuff after another. It can also show you that there's been tremendous progress in knowledge, behaviour, laws, civilisation. It cannot show you that there was a meaning behind it. Tony Judt badbehaviourcivilisation share on social
I was born accidentally. I lived accidentally in London. We nearly migrated to New Zealand. So much of my life has been a product of chance, I can't see a meaning in it at all. Tony Judt accidentallybearchance Change image and share on social
We are not merely historians but also and always citizens. Tony Judt citizenhistorian Change image and share on social
It does irritate me when I am described as a controversialist and commentator on Israel. Tony Judt commentatorcontroversialistirritate Change image and share on social
What I am against is false optimism: the notion either that things have to go well, or else that they tend to, or else that the default condition of historical trajectories is characteristically beneficial in the long-run. Tony Judt beneficialcharacteristicallycondition share on social
I just like being on my own on trains, traveling. I spent all my pocket money travelling the London Underground and Southern Railway, what used to be the Western region, and in Europe as much as I could afford it. My parents used to think I was going places, but I wasn't, I was just travelling the trains. Tony Judt affordeuropelondon share on social
Social democrats are characteristically modest - a political quality whose virtues are overestimated. We need to apologise a little less for our shortcomings and speak more assertively of achievements. That these were always incomplete should not trouble us. Tony Judt achievementapologiseassertively share on social
I went to live on a kibbutz, and I'd idealized the world of collective, agrarian work, where everyone was equal, everyone contributed, that all this awful European intellectual stuff just fell away. Tony Judt agrarianawfulcollective Change image and share on social