On abortion: We are talking about ambiguous issues of a complicated kind where you have to balance conflicting interests and concerns. Noam Chomsky More Quotes by Noam Chomsky More Quotes From Noam Chomsky How it is we have so much information, but know so little? Noam Chomsky informationknowslittles The indoctrination is so deep that educated people think they’re being objective. Noam Chomsky indoctrinationpeoplethinking The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum. Noam Chomsky passivity-issmartpeople If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, that there are opportunities to change things, then there is a possibility that you can contribute to making a better world. Noam Chomsky freedomcourageopportunity 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. Noam Chomsky neptunedoctrinehero Hypocrites are those who apply to others the standards that they refuse to accept for themselves. Noam Chomsky mediapoliticshypocrite The media want to maintain their intimate relation to state power. They want to get leaks, they want to get invited to the press conferences. They want to rub shoulders with the Secretary of State, all that kind of business. To do that, you've got to play the game, and playing the game means telling their lies, serving as their disinformation apparatus. Noam Chomsky mediameanlying Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it. Noam Chomsky stoppingwarway Education is a system of imposed ignorance. Noam Chomsky thriveignoranceeducation 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. Noam Chomsky partytwointeresting It doesn't matter how much you learn in school; it's whether you learn how to go on and do things by yourself. And that can be done at any level. Noam Chomsky doneschool It’s pretty ironic that the so-called ‘least advanced’ people are the ones taking the lead in trying to protect all of us, while the richest and most powerful among us are the ones who are trying to drive the society to destruction. Noam Chomsky ironicpowerfulpeople To live a life of honesty and integrity is a responsibility of every decent person. Noam Chomsky honestyresponsibilityintegrity If you are working 50 hours a week in a factory, you don't have time to read 10 newspapers a day and go back to declassified government archives. But such people may have far-reaching insights into the way the world works. Noam Chomsky archivesgovernmentpeople All public resources go to the rich. The poor, if they can survive in the labor market, fine. Otherwise, they die. That's economics in a nutshell. Noam Chomsky economicsrichpoor If anybody thinks they should listen to me because I'm a professor at MIT, that's nonsense. You should decide whether something makes sense by its content, not by the letters after the name of the person who says it. Noam Chomsky mitnamesthinking The person who wins the Nobel Prize is not the person who read the most journal articles and took the most notes on them. It's the person who knew what to look for. And cultivating that capacity to seek what's significant, always willing to question whether you're on the right track - that's what education is going to be about, whether it's using computers and the Internet, or pencil and paper, or books. Noam Chomsky trackwinningbook There is no reason to believe ... that the "essential purpose" of language is "communication". Language can be used to transmit information, but it also serves many other purposes: to establish relations among people, to express or clarify thought, for play, for creative mental activity, to gain understanding, and so on. In my opinion, there is no reason to accord privileged status to one or the other of these modes. Noam Chomsky communicationplaybelieve The most effective way to restrict democracy is to transfer decision-making from the public arena to unaccountable institutions: kings and princes, priestly castes, military juntas, party dictatorships, or modern corporations. Noam Chomsky partymilitarykings If voting could actually change anything, it would be illegal. Noam Chomsky illegalvotingwould-be
