Latest Nicholas D. Kristof Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• For most of history, genocide was just something governments did and nobody blinked.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Genocide

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• China was probably the worst place in the world to grow up female 100 years ago. There was foot binding, female infanticide, concubinage, and child marriage, and now it's one of the better places. So I really do feel that we're on the right side of history here.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Growing Up, Children, World

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• If you just try to make rational arguments about why people should care about Congo and how 5 million people have died, then people tend not to be receptive. But once you've created a connection of empathy, rational arguments can play a supportive role.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  People, Empathy, Supportive

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• Our national leaders tend to try to protect the national interest as they see it. They may screw up in that, but they at least see that as their role. In contrast, where issues of our national values are involved, which covers pretty much any humanitarian issue, they pretty much drop the ball.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Leader, Trying, Humanitarian

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• Guilt-tripping people does not work; they tend to be turned off.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  People

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• I think when hundreds of thousands of lives are on the line, you might have to set aside some principles.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Thinking, Principles, Lines

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• The news media's silence, particularly television news, is reprehensible.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Media, Silence, News

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• Write letters to your editors, write to your members of Congress, and write to your news stations.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Writing, Editors, News

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• You could perhaps better tell the story of a place by writing of a tiny village as a sort of prism into the bigger issues the culture was facing. It struck me as a better way to learn about a place, or at least a different way, than just going to interview the president. So I have often tried to tell the story of a place through people there. But I'm just amazed.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Writing, Issues, People

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• I think it's dangerous to be optimistic.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Optimistic, Thinking, Dangerous

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• Usually people are very much focused on keeping their kids alive.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Kids, People, Alive

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

• One of the principles of journalism is you don't lie. You never lie.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Lying, Principles, Journalism

  Source: www.achievement.org

• I said that one can't stereotype [Donald] Trump voters anymore than they can anybody else.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Voters, Stereotype, Columns

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

• I think that [Donald] Trump is frankly a bigot. He has a racist history.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Thinking, Racist, Trump

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

• It's important not to demonize [Donald's] Trump voters.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Important, Voters, Trump

  Source: www.realclearpolitics.com

• In much of the world, the most dangerous thing a woman can do is become pregnant.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  World, Dangerous, Can Do

  "The World's Modern-Day Lepers: Women With Fistulas" by Nicholas Kristof, www.nytimes.com. March 19, 2016.

• In general, talking about human rights tends to be very persuasive for people who care about human rights.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Rights, Talking, People

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• If one is talking to a finance minister of a poor country, moral arguments tend not to get very far. But if you can argue that their country is going to grow 2 percent faster per year if they can just harness the power of the female half of the population more effectively, that is an argument they consider.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Country, Talking, Years

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• Once you've created a connection of empathy, rational arguments can play a supportive role.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Play, Empathy, Supportive

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• The way you get leaders to care about issues of conscience is to apply political pressure. It's less a question of persuading leaders directly and more trying to build a social movement that holds their feet to the fire.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Feet, Issues, Fire

  Source: www.motherjones.com

• Individual storytelling is incredibly powerful. We as journalists know intuitively what scientists of the brain are discovering through brain scans, which is that emotional stories tend to open the portals, and that once there's a connection made, people are more open to rational arguments.

  Nicholas D. Kristof

  Powerful, Emotional, People

  Source: www.motherjones.com