Home / Quotes / Quote by Noam Chomsky

Quote by Noam Chomsky

“Go back to classical times, say classical Greece. Who drank the hemlock? Was it someone who was conforming, obeying the gods? Or was it someone who was disrupting the youth and questioning the faith and belief? Socrates, in other words. It was Socrates.”

Quote by Noam Chomsky

Author

Noam Chomsky, born on December 7, 1928, is a renowned linguist from the United States. His research in generative grammar and transformational grammar has had a profound impact on modern linguistics. Chomsky's academic achievements extend beyond linguistics, as he is also an active political commentator and philosopher, known for his unique perspective and profound insights. more

You May Also Like

“Go back to the Bible, the Old Testament. I mean there were people who we would call intelectuals, there, they were called prophets, but they were basically intelectuals: they were people who were doing critical, geopolitical analysis, talking about the decisions of the king were going to lead to destruction; condemning inmorality, calling for justice for widows and orphans. What we would call dissident intelectuals. Were they nicely treated? No, they were driven into the desert, they were imprisoned, they were denounced. They were intelectuals who conformed.”

“Sectors of power are not going to favor the flourishing of dissidence.”

Favors Flourishing

Author:Noam Chomsky

“We don't live in tyrannies, you know, the king doesn't decide what's legitimate, and there's much more freedom than there was in the past.”

Knows Past Kings Tyranny

Author:Noam Chomsky

“I know of only one country, at least to my knowledge, which has a dissident culture where leading figures, I mean, the most famous writers, journalists, academics and so on, are not only critical of state policy, but are constantly carrying out civil disobedience and risking imprisonment and often being imprisoned, standing up for people's rights. That's Turkey.”

People Knows Mean Country States Culture Rights Figures Policy Standing Critical Journalist Turkeys Disobedience Civil Disobedience Imprisonment Dissidents Famous Writers

Author:Noam Chomsky

“In Western Europe, Turkey is regarded as uncivilized, so they can't come in into the European Union until they're civilized. I think it's the other way around. If you could achieve the level of civilization of, say, Turkish intelectuals, it would be quite an achievement.”

Ifs Thinking Way Would Be Levels Achieve Civilization Achievement Europe Unions Western Civilized Turkeys European Union Turkish Western Europe Uncivilized

Author:Noam Chomsky

“I think the press, by and large, is what we call "liberal". But of course what we call "liberal" means well to the right. "Liberal" means the "guardians of the gates". So the New York Times is "liberal" by, what's called, the standards of political discourse, New York Times is liberal, CBS is liberal. I don't disagree. I think they're moderately critical at the fringes. They're not totally subordinate to power, but they are very strict in how far you can go. And in fact, their liberalism serves an extremely important function in supporting power.”

“No liberal newspaper ever talked about the invasion of Vietnam; they talked about the defense of Vietnam. And then they were saying, "well, it's not going well." Ok, that make them liberal. It's like, it's if we were to say, that going back to, say, Nazi Germany, that Hitler's general staff was liberal after Stalingrad because they were criticizing his tactics: "It was a mistake to fight a two front war, we should've knocked off Englad first," or something.”

Ifs Should Firsts Wells Two War Fighting Mistake Fronts Defense Newspapers Germany Criticize Vietnam Staff Nazi Tactics Invasion Nazi Germany Stalingrad

Author:Noam Chomsky

“Take like, say, Obama, he's called "liberal" and he's praised for his "principled objection to the Iraq war". What was his "principled objection"? He says it was a "strategic blunder," like Nazi generals after Stalingrad.”

War Iraq Nazi Strategic Objections Iraq War Blunders Principled Stalingrad

Author:Noam Chomsky

“Let's take Pravda in the 1980s. I mean you could have read things in Pravda saying that it was a stupid error to invade Afghanistan: "it was a dumb thing to do, we have to get out, it's costing us too much." I mean that U.S. analog of that would be "extreme liberalism," and it has been pretty well studied.”

Wells Mean Has Beens Would Be Too Much Stupid Errors Extremes Dumb Things To Do Liberalism Afghanistan Analog Dumb Things

Author:Noam Chomsky

“We could not bring democracy and freedom to Vietnam at a cost acceptable to ourselves. The idea that that was what we were trying to do, is again, a tautology, it's true by definition because we were doing, and the state is noble by definition. That's called "extreme liberalism".”

Trying Ideas States Democracy Cost Definitions Extremes Noble Liberalism Vietnam Acceptable Tautology

Author:Noam Chomsky