Noam Chomsky Quotes

A collection of quotes by Noam Chomsky.

Noam Chomsky is an influential American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, and social critic. He was born on December 7, 1928, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Chomsky is widely regarded as one of the founders of modern linguistics and has made groundbreaking contributions to the field, particularly through his theory of generative grammar. His revolutionary ideas have had a profound impact on numerous disciplines beyond linguistics, including computer science, psychology, and philosophy of mind.

Chomsky's interest in activism and political theory has also played a significant role in his life. He is known for his outspoken criticism of U.S. foreign policy, corporate influence, and mass media, advocating for principles of social justice, human rights, and democracy. Chomsky's critical perspective on the role of governments and institutions in shaping public opinion has earned him both admiration and controversy over the years.

Throughout his extensive career, Chomsky has authored and co-authored over 100 books on a range of topics such as linguistics, politics, and media analysis. Some of his most famous works include "Syntactic Structures," "Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media," and "Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance."

Noam Chomsky's intellectual contributions and his relentless activism have established him as one of the most prominent and influential thinkers of our time. He continues to engage in public discourse to advocate for social change and provoke critical thinking on pressing global issues.

Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's

Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it.

I like the cold weather. It means you get work done.

I like the cold weather. It means you get work done.

Changes and progress very rarely are gifts from above. They

Changes and progress very rarely are gifts from above. They come out of struggles from below.

The sign of a truly totalitarian culture is that important t

The sign of a truly totalitarian culture is that important truths simply lack cognitive meaning and are interpretable only at the level of Fuck You, so they can then elicit a perfectly predictable torrent of abuse in response. We've long ago reached that level.

Science is a bit like the joke about the drunk who is lookin

Science is a bit like the joke about the drunk who is looking under a lamppost for a key that he has lost on the other side of the street, because that's where the light is. It has no other choice.

In the US, there is basically one party - the business party

In the US, there is basically one party - the business party. It has two factions, called Democrats and Republicans, which are somewhat different but carry out variations on the same policies. By and large, I am opposed to those policies. As is most of the population.

Either you repeat the same conventional doctrines everybody

Either you repeat the same conventional doctrines everybody is saying, or else you say something true, and it will sound like it's from Neptune.

Wanton killing of innocent civilians is terrorism, not a war

Wanton killing of innocent civilians is terrorism, not a war against terrorism.

The 'anti-globalisation movement' is the most significant pr

The 'anti-globalisation movement' is the most significant proponent of globalisation - but in the interests of people, not concentrations of state-private power.

Humans have certain properties and characteristics which are

Humans have certain properties and characteristics which are intrinsic to them, just as every other organism does. That's human nature.

The more you can increase fear of drugs and crime, welfare m

The more you can increase fear of drugs and crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all the people.

We can, for example, be fairly confident that either there w

We can, for example, be fairly confident that either there will be a world without war or there won't be a world - at least, a world inhabited by creatures other than bacteria and beetles, with some scattering of others.

Suppose that humans happen to be so constructed that they de

Suppose that humans happen to be so constructed that they desire the opportunity for freely undertaken productive work. Suppose that they want to be free from the meddling of technocrats and commissars, bankers and tycoons, mad bombers who engage in psychological tests of will with peasants defending their homes, behavioral scientists who can't tell a pigeon from a poet, or anyone else who tries to wish freedom and dignity out of existence or beat them into oblivion.

Predatory capitalism created a complex industrial system and

Predatory capitalism created a complex industrial system and an advanced technology; it permitted a considerable extension of democratic practice and fostered certain liberal values, but within limits that are now being pressed and must be overcome. It is not a fit system for the mid-twentieth century.

We can imagine a society in which no one could survive as a

We can imagine a society in which no one could survive as a social being because it does not correspond to biologically determined perceptions and human social needs. For historical reasons, existing societies might have such properties, leading to various forms of pathology.

Unlimited economic growth has the marvelous quality of still

Unlimited economic growth has the marvelous quality of stilling discontent while maintaining privilege, a fact that has not gone unnoticed among liberal economists.

Resistance is feasible even for those who are not heroes by

Resistance is feasible even for those who are not heroes by nature, and it is an obligation, I believe, for those who fear the consequences and detest the reality of the attempt to impose American hegemony.

I have often thought that if a rational Fascist dictatorship

I have often thought that if a rational Fascist dictatorship were to exist, then it would choose the American system.

The consistent anarchist should be a socialist, but a social

The consistent anarchist should be a socialist, but a socialist of a particular sort. He will not only oppose alienated and specialized labor and look forward to the appropriation of capital by the whole body of workers, but he will also insist that this appropriation be direct, not exercised by some elite force acting in the name of the proletariat. Some sort of council communism is the natural form of revolutionary socialism in an industrial society. It reflects the intuitive understanding that democracy is largely a sham when the industrial system is controlled by any form of autocratic elite, whether of owners, managers, and technocrats, a vanguard party, or a State bureaucracy.

The United States is unusual among the industrial democracie

The United States is unusual among the industrial democracies in the rigidity of the system of ideological control -- indoctrination, we might say -- exercised through the mass media.