--- title: "7 Devices Quotes By Noam Chomsky" description: "7 Devices quotes by Noam Chomsky. Plus more from Noam Chomsky and more Devices sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82f/noam-chomsky-42_agreement_when-bill-clinton-came-along-it-sort-of_445300.jpg" --- > [ When \[Bill\] Clinton came along, it sort of moderated a little bit, but Clinton had a different device for breaking unions called… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/when-bill-clinton-came-along-it-sort-of-moderated-a-little-bit-but/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82f/noam-chomsky-42_agreement_when-bill-clinton-came-along-it-sort-of_445300.jpg) > [Chemistry, until my childhood, not that long ago, was regarded as a calculating device. Because you couldn't reduce to physics. So it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/chemistry-until-my-childhood-not-that-long-ago-was-regarded-as-a/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c2/noam-chomsky-42_atom_chemistry-until-my-childhood-not-that-lo_491877.jpg) > [ UG \[universal grammar\] may be regarded as a characterization of the genetically determined language faculty. One may think of thisfaculty as a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/ug-universal-grammar-may-be-regarded-as-a-characterization-of-the/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42a/noam-chomsky-42_acquisition_ug-universal-grammar-may-be-regarded-as_698166.jpg) > [The beam in our own eye is harder to detect, although - or more accurately because - to detect it, and remove…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-beam-in-our-own-eye-is-harder-to-detect-although-or-more/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dff/noam-chomsky-42_beam_the-beam-in-our-own-eye-is-harder-to-det_701616.jpg) > [Control of thought is more important for governments that are free and popular than for despotic and military states. The logic is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/control-of-thought-is-more-important-for-governments-that-are-free/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe3/noam-chomsky-42_affair_control-of-thought-is-more-important-for_968694.jpg) > [Pascal in his bitter rendition of the practices of the Jesuit intellectuals he despised, including their demonstration of "the utility of interpretation,"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/pascal-in-his-bitter-rendition-of-the-practices-of-the-jesuit/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fe/noam-chomsky-42_bitter_pascal-in-his-bitter-rendition-of-the-pr_1890846.jpg) > [Syntax is the study of the principles and processes by which sentences are constructed in particular languages. Syntactic investigation of a given…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/syntax-is-the-study-of-the-principles-and-processes-by-which/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d5b/noam-chomsky-42_analysis_syntax-is-the-study-of-the-principles-an_2663640.jpg) ## Other authors on Devices ## More by Noam Chomsky > [The costs of the Bush-Obama wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now estimated to run as high as $4.4 trillion - a major victory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-costs-of-the-bush-obama-wars-in-iraq-and-afghanistan-are-now/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [If you believe in democracy, why shouldn't you know what the government is doing?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/if-you-believe-in-democracy-why-shouldn-t-you-know-what-the/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [It’s a shameful moment for U.S. media when it insists on being subservient to the grotesque propaganda agencies of a violent, aggressive state.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/it-s-a-shameful-moment-for-u-s-media-when-it-insists-on-being/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [There are questions as to whether it should even exist. Who should corporations be responsive to, the management of a corporation? Theoretically they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/there-are-questions-as-to-whether-it-should-even-exist-who-should/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [Governments regard their own citizens as their main enemy, and they have to be - protect themselves. That's why you have state secret laws.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/governments-regard-their-own-citizens-as-their-main-enemy-and-they/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [I don't join the New Atheists. So, for example, I wouldn't have the arrogance to lecture some mother who hopes to see her dying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/i-don-t-join-the-new-atheists-so-for-example-i-wouldn-t-have-the/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [The first thing you ought to do is verify what I present. Just because I say it doesn't make it true. So check it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-first-thing-you-ought-to-do-is-verify-what-i-present-just-because/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [ I wrote an article about the marine landing \[in Haiti\] right away, but barely mentioned the oil, because my article would come out two… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/i-wrote-an-article-about-the-marine-landing-in-haiti-right-away-but/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [American society is now remarkably atomized. Political organizations have collapsed. In fact, it seems like even bowling leagues are collapsing. The left has a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/american-society-is-now-remarkably-atomized-political-organizations/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [Discovery is the ability to be puzzled by simple things. Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/discovery-is-the-ability-to-be-puzzled-by-simple-things-noam-chomsky/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [There's an interesting book about that called The Third Reich and the Ivory Tower, written by Stephen H. Norwood. It has a long discussion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/there-s-an-interesting-book-about-that-called-the-third-reich-and-the/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [This is class war on an international scale, and power is in the hands of those who control the international economic system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/this-is-class-war-on-an-international-scale-and-power-is-in-the-hands/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [There are big, extremely irrational parts of the society, and they have now been mobilized politically by the Republican establishment, hoping that these people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/there-are-big-extremely-irrational-parts-of-the-society-and-they-have/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [There's plenty to criticize about the mass media, but they are the source of regular information about a wide range of topics. You can't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/there-s-plenty-to-criticize-about-the-mass-media-but-they-are-the/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [The 50,000 Korean mercenaries we had in Vietnam were professional killers and just massacred people outright. And the American army did plenty of that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-50-000-korean-mercenaries-we-had-in-vietnam-were-professional/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/devices/noam-chomsky/#itemlist", "name": "7 Devices Quotes By Noam Chomsky", "numberOfItems": 7, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When [Bill] Clinton came along, it sort of moderated a little bit, but Clinton had a different device for breaking unions called NAFTA [North America Free Trade Agreement]. Because the government was entirely lawless, employers could exploit NAFTA to threaten union organizers with transfer. It's illegal, but when you've got a lawless government, it doesn't matter if it's illegal. 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Because you couldn't reduce to physics. So it's just some way of calculating the result of experiments. The Bohr atom was treated that way.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Noam Chomsky" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/chemistry-until-my-childhood-not-that-long-ago-was-regarded-as-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c2/noam-chomsky-42_atom_chemistry-until-my-childhood-not-that-lo_491877.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c2/noam-chomsky-42_atom_chemistry-until-my-childhood-not-that-lo_491877.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1c2/noam-chomsky-42_atom_chemistry-until-my-childhood-not-that-lo_491877.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Chemistry, until my childhood, not that long ago, was regarded as a calculating device. 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One may think of thisfaculty as a 'language acquisition device,' an innate component of the human mind that yields a particular language through interaction with present experience, a device that converts experience into a system of knowledge attained: knowledge of one or another language.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Noam Chomsky" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/ug-universal-grammar-may-be-regarded-as-a-characterization-of-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42a/noam-chomsky-42_acquisition_ug-universal-grammar-may-be-regarded-as_698166.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42a/noam-chomsky-42_acquisition_ug-universal-grammar-may-be-regarded-as_698166.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42a/noam-chomsky-42_acquisition_ug-universal-grammar-may-be-regarded-as_698166.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“UG [universal grammar] may be regarded as a characterization of the genetically determined language faculty…” — Noam Chomsky", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The beam in our own eye is harder to detect, although - or more accurately because - to detect it, and remove it, is vastly more important on elementary moral grounds, and commonly more important in terms of direct human consequences as well. Intellectuals have historically played a critical function in performing these tasks, and [Ivan] Illich is right to observe that claims to scientific expertise and special knowledge are often used as a device.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Noam Chomsky" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-beam-in-our-own-eye-is-harder-to-detect-although-or-more/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dff/noam-chomsky-42_beam_the-beam-in-our-own-eye-is-harder-to-det_701616.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dff/noam-chomsky-42_beam_the-beam-in-our-own-eye-is-harder-to-det_701616.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dff/noam-chomsky-42_beam_the-beam-in-our-own-eye-is-harder-to-det_701616.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The beam in our own eye is harder to detect, although - or more accurately because - to detect it, and…” — Noam Chomsky", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Control of thought is more important for governments that are free and popular than for despotic and military states. The logic is straightforward: a despotic state can control its domestic enemies by force, but as the state loses this weapon, other devices are required to prevent the ignorant masses from interfering with public affairs, which are none of their business…the public are to be observers, not participants, consumers of ideology as well as products.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Noam Chomsky" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/control-of-thought-is-more-important-for-governments-that-are-free/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe3/noam-chomsky-42_affair_control-of-thought-is-more-important-for_968694.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe3/noam-chomsky-42_affair_control-of-thought-is-more-important-for_968694.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fe3/noam-chomsky-42_affair_control-of-thought-is-more-important-for_968694.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Control of thought is more important for governments that are free and popular than for despotic and…” — Noam Chomsky", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Pascal in his bitter rendition of the practices of the Jesuit intellectuals he despised, including their demonstration of \"the utility of interpretation,\" a device of manufacturing consent based on reinterpretation of sacred texts to serve wealth, power, and privilege.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Noam Chomsky" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/pascal-in-his-bitter-rendition-of-the-practices-of-the-jesuit/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fe/noam-chomsky-42_bitter_pascal-in-his-bitter-rendition-of-the-pr_1890846.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fe/noam-chomsky-42_bitter_pascal-in-his-bitter-rendition-of-the-pr_1890846.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6fe/noam-chomsky-42_bitter_pascal-in-his-bitter-rendition-of-the-pr_1890846.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Pascal in his bitter rendition of the practices of the Jesuit intellectuals he despised, including their…” — Noam Chomsky", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Syntax is the study of the principles and processes by which sentences are constructed in particular languages. 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