Excerpts: “For none of us creates the world we inhabit from scratch; none of us crafts our values and commitments save in dialogue with the past. Dialogue is not determinism, however” (p. 67).

“But, as Renan also argued, what really matters in making a nation, beyond these shared stories, is ‘the clearly expressed desire to continue a common life.’ That’s why he said that a nation’s existence ‘is, if you will pardon the metaphor, a daily plebiscite.’ What make ‘us’ a people, ultimately, is a commitment to governing a common life together” (p.102).

“But to come to terms with Svevo’s complex allegiances is to understand that we don’t have to accept the forced choice between globalism and patriotism. The unities we create fare better when we face the convoluted reality of our differences” (p.104).

“Here, as with every identity, we see that people’s responses to us are shaped not just by our own acts, attitudes, achievements, and offenses, but also by complex facts about the groups to which we belong” (p. 158).

“Class identities in a meritocracy reduce people to a single measure of worth, the argument runs: and only someone with a very limited vision could suppose that human worth reduces to a single measure” (p. 177).

“The central task of ethics is to ask: what is it for a human life to go well? The answer, I believe, is that living well means meeting the challenge set by three things: your capacities, the circumstances into which you were born, and the projects you yourself decide are important” (p. 177).

“A culture of liberty, tolerance, and rational inquiry: that would be a good idea. But these values represent choices to make, not tracks laid down by a Western destiny” (p. 211).

Appiah, Kwame Anthony (2018). The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity. New York: Liveright Publishing.