Intellectual Quotes by Noam Chomsky

I don't like the intellectual label.

— Noam Chomsky

Dissident intellectuals aren't all beautiful.

— Noam Chomsky

The intellectual tradition is one of servility to power, and if I didn't betray it I'd be ashamed of myself.

— Noam Chomsky

You don't get to be a respected intellectual by uttering truisms in monosyllables.

— Noam Chomsky

The 'free-floating intellectual' may occupy himself with problems because of their inherent interest and importance, perhaps to little effect.

— Noam Chomsky

The respected intellectuals are those who conform and serve power interests.

— Noam Chomsky

Moral cowardice and intellectual corruption are the natural concomitants of unchallenged privilege.

— Noam Chomsky

It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and expose lies.

— Noam Chomsky

I have known people who are working class or craftsmen, who happen to be more intellectual than professors.

— Noam Chomsky

Edward Said is a very honorable representative of the "intellectual" in the sense of the term that he defines.

— Noam Chomsky

The intellectual world is deeply conformist... We talk a lot about the crimes of others. When it comes to our own crimes,…

— Noam Chomsky

I think such an inquiry will reveal a rather different picture: namely, it will reveal a very strong tendency for the intellectuals…

— Noam Chomsky

The term "intellectual" is used conventionally to refer to people who happen to have unusual opportunities in this regard, and as always,…

— Noam Chomsky

Intellectuals are in a position to expose the lies of governments, to analyze actions according to their causes and motives and often…

— Noam Chomsky

In the case of [Antonio] Gramsci, the Fascist government agreed that he was a "model intellectual" in [Edward] Said's sense, and for…

— Noam Chomsky

I don't really see what can be said about the role of faculty members, or universities, beyond the truisms voiced earlier, and…

— Noam Chomsky

My intellectual achievement was retarded when I went to high school. I sort of sank into a black hole because I had…

— Noam Chomsky

Citizens of the democratic societies should undertake a course of intellectual self defense to protect themselves from manipulation and control, and to…

— Noam Chomsky

Human physical structures and intellectual structures are generally studied in different ways. The assumption is that physical structures are genetically inherited and…

— Noam Chomsky

“In mathematics, in physics, people are concerned with what you say, not with your certification. But in order to speak about social…

— Noam Chomsky

There are few genuine conservatives within the U.S. political system, and it is a sign of the intellectual corruption of the age…

— Noam Chomsky

Take a look at the current debates in Washington, and of course, everything in the media. Only one issue is discussed: the…

— Noam Chomsky

A more appropriate expansion is the statement "it is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and expose lies" a transcript…

— Noam Chomsky

That's our nuclear weapons strategy [going to frighten people], as of the early post-Cold War years. And I think this is a…

— Noam Chomsky

If by 'intellectual' you mean people who are a special class who are in the business of imposing thoughts and forming ideas…

— Noam Chomsky

France has not been able to come to terms with the fact that it's not a major power anymore. I mean even…

— Noam Chomsky

You don't have any other society where the educated classes are so effectively indoctrinated and controlled by a subtle propaganda system -…

— Noam Chomsky

Whether the person should then be called "an intellectual" seems to reduce the issue to a question of terminology.

— Noam Chomsky

The intellectual is an individual with a specific public role in society that cannot be reduced simply to . . a faceless professional.

— Noam Chomsky

Intellectuals (in the standard sense of the term, not [ Edward] Said's prescriptive sense) are the people who write history.

— Noam Chomsky

It is only in folk tales, children's stories, and the journals of intellectual opinion that power is used wisely and well to…

— Noam Chomsky

As to whether those who fit the common meaning of the term "intellectual" should act in the manner that [ Edward] Said…

— Noam Chomsky

I just went along with political activists and interested in other intellectual interests which I pursued kind of at random. I never…

— Noam Chomsky

[Antonio] Gramsci's words and actions explain their assessment, though I think we should refrain from using the term "model intellectual" for him…

— Noam Chomsky

The IMF economists were doubtless shaken by the extreme failures of their prescriptions over many years, and by the collapse of the…

— Noam Chomsky

That is [Edward Said] proposal as to how the term should be used. It surely does not describe those who are called…

— Noam Chomsky

I have never heard of anyone who was a "model person" in all aspects of his or her life, intellectual life or…

— Noam Chomsky

Our whole educational and cultural system is not designed to provide those intellectual tools, so people are often lost and the internet…

— Noam Chomsky

If we understood, as we do not, the physical bases for intellectual structures, I have little doubt that we would find structures…

— Noam Chomsky

French intellectual life has, in my opinion, been turned into something cheap and meretricious by the 'star' system. It is like Hollywood.…

— Noam Chomsky