Noam Chomsky Quotes

Biography: Noam Chomsky is renowned for his work in linguistics and cognitive sci... more Biography: Noam Chomsky is renowned for his work in linguistics and cognitive science. A professor emeritus at MIT, he revolutionized the field with his theory of generative grammar. Chomsky is also a prolific political writer and activist, known for his critiques of media and U.S. foreign policy. less

"In the societal arena, one who has skills and use them intelligently is more likely to be chosen than one who has none and can envision none.""In this possibly terminal phase of human existence, democracy and freedom are more than just ideals to be valued - they may be essential to survival.""When we consider the target audience of propaganda, we must recognize a natural self-defense mechanism: the critical faculty.""The goal of education should be to enable people to become active and engaged citizens, questioning and organizing against injustices.""The principle that human security and well-being should be privileged over short-term economic gains is neither new nor radical.""Misery and suffering in the world can be reduced through human effort and the example set by it is infectious.""Fear of serious injury alone cannot justify oppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burnt women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears""The general population doesn't know what's happening, and it doesn't even know that it doesn't know""The most important thing for me is to work on language""One of the most interesting and surprising developments in recent years has been the emergence of the global justice movements, or what is often referred to as anti-globalization movements.""Reality is always neutral, it just is.""The only way to be responsibly is individually and collectively to make decisions for yourself, using your own intelligence and understanding. ""The so-called learning society can be a new weapon of cultural imperialism; but in its liberatory form, education is the indispensable basis for human development.""The principle that property should be protected and instability reduced is right, but the specific policies need to be carefully crafted.""The standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don’t work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital.""The bigger concern may be that now we have a rapidly growing economy and ample capital, but a failure of the government and society, to allocate it properly.""See, people with power understand exactly one thing: violence.""There are no magic answers, no miraculous methods to overcome the problems we face, just the familiar ones: honest search for understanding, education, organization, action that raises the cost of state violence for its perpetrators, solidarity with the oppressed and their struggles everywhere.""If we choose, we can live in a world of comforting illusion.""Either you repeat conventional doctrines without thought, or else you say something true, and it will sound like it’s from Neptune."

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