Jay Nordlinger Quotes (1963-)

“"Globalism" is often the most self-interested and "nationalist" thing you can do. It has been a bonanza.”

“Who delivered more truth about Trump and Trumpism? The "NeverTrump" "hysterics" or mainstream, organized conservatism?”

“But understand them, people say. And one does. But sometimes understanding is not comforting or flattering to the understood.”

“Class size is another shibboleth: First, small class sizes do not increase learning, and, second, class sizes have become quite small anyway.”

“People are always criticizing Twitter. "Twitter is crazy!" they say. I think that's misguided. Twitter is simply an avenue -- there are many -- by which people reveal who they are.”

“There have always been coat-and-tie Marxists, who would never get their hands dirty — who would never smash heads themselves — but who encourage it in others, to one degree or another.”

“It is hard to think of a state less deserving of pariah status than Taiwan: a country that evolved from dictatorship to become a splendid example of liberal democracy in a region sorely in need of such an example.”

“Putin has a weak hand and he's bluffing, successfully; the West has a strong hand and has no idea what to do with it.”

“Nemtsov sacrificed a lot for politics, for a freer Russia — and I’m not just talking about his life, his mortal life.”

“One by one, Kara-Murza’s colleagues have been exiled, like Khodorkovsky. Or imprisoned. Or killed. Kara-Murza is determined to press on, however, believing that he has important work to do. And if people shrink from doing it, how will it get done?”

“I have known Bill Kristol since the mid-’90s, when I worked for him. I had admired him even before that, when he was a pup in the Reagan administration. He is his own man, come hell or high water. If I were president — LOL — I’d hang the Medal of Freedom around Bill’s neck.”

“"Be a socialist or I’ll kill the kid." That’s a line I regularly used about Senator Ted Kennedy, way back. I was brash. But I was trying to characterize (and perhaps caricature) his rhetoric on abortion. You could tell he was not keen to defend abortion. So he would say that people had to support this, that, or the other government program in order to oppose abortion. Otherwise, they would lack credibility. Otherwise, they would be hypocrites, or worse.”

“Talk can be cheap, very cheap. It can also be costly. “Speak out!” we say. “Why are you afraid to speak out?” we say. In dictatorships, it can be very, very hard to speak out. Many people have been imprisoned or worse for talk. But even in democratic societies, talk can be hard. It can be hard not only in politics but also in high schools and families and churches and professional communities and other arenas. But even in democratic societies, talk can be hard. It can be hard not only in politics but also in high schools and families and churches and professional communities and other arenas.”