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Power Quotes by Noam Chomsky

47 Power quotes by Noam Chomsky

All Power quotes Noam Chomsky’s page

Chomsky describes power as a class war where wealth and political influence concentrate in the hands of a few. He warns that lingering executive power can threaten democracy and that control fuels strategic advantage. He also calls for the public to learn why they suffer and how power shapes society.

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For the powerful, crimes are those that others commit.

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Control is the source of strategic power.

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Palestinians have no wealth or power.

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See, people with power understand exactly one thing: violence.

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People tend to rally around power.

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“To speak truth to power is not a particularly honorable vocation.”

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

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Free speech has been used by the Supreme Court to give immense power to the wealthiest members of our society.

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

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“power that isn’t really justified by the will of the governed should be dismantled.”

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People who criticize power in the Jewish community are regarded the way Ahab treated Elijah: You're a traitor.

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The deceit and distortion surrounding the American invasion of Vietnam is by now so familiar that it has lost its power to…

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“المثقف من حمل الحقيقة في وجه القوة ('cultured from carrying the truth in the face of power')”

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Technologies can be liberating, but it can also be a tool of coercion and control.

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The corporations plainly want academic scholarship to create a web of mystification that will avoid any public awareness of the way in…

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If you care about other people, you might try to organize to undermine power and authority. That's not going to happen if…

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In every country except - industrial country except the United States, the government uses its massive purchasing power to negotiate drug prices.…

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States are violent institutions. The government of any country, including ours, represents some sort of domestic power structure, and it's usually violent.…

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People are dangerous. If they're able to involve themselves in issues that matter, they may change the distribution of power, to the…

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Concentration of executive power, unless it's very temporary and for specific circumstances, let's say fighting world war two, it's an assault on…

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The Bush Administration do have moral values. Their moral values are very explicit: shine the boots of the rich and the powerful,…

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The term 'globalisation' is conventionally used to refer to the specific form of investor-rights integration designed by wealth and power, for their…

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“See, one of the serious illusions we live under in the United States, which is a major part of the whole system…

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It is not that I am not a fan of American exceptionalism. That is like saying I am not a fan of…

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The great soul of power extends far beyond states, to every domain of life, from families to international affairs. And throughout, every…

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Control of thought is more important for governments that are free and popular than for despotic and military states. The logic is…

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If you have to control people, you have to have an administrative force that does it. So in U.S. industry, even more…

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Power is concentrated. The general policy is exactly the way that Adam Smith described it: it's designed for the benefit of its…

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“Look, part of the whole technique of disempowering people is to make sure that the real agents of change fall out of…

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Major efforts have to be undertaken to bring the general public to understand the real reasons for their plight, and the possibilities…

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“On the other hand, it has a number of other advantages for power. For one thing, it diverts people, it atomizes people.…

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“I think maybe the classic formulation was by David Hume in "Of the First Principles of Government," where he pointed out that…

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

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This is class war on an international scale, and power is in the hands of those who control the international economic system.

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Governments are not representative. They have their own power, serving segments of the population that are dominant and rich.

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People seem to know about May Day everywhere except where it began, here in the United States of America. That's because those…

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In ideal form of social control is an atomised collection of individuals focused on their own narrow concern, lacking the kinds of…

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The dangers of unexamined and unregulated monopoly power, particularly in the state executive, are hardly news. The right reaction is not passive…

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Concentration of wealth yields concentration of political power. And concentration of political power gives rise to legislation that increases and accelerates the…

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Anything that you are achieving that undermines and threatens systems of power will meet with oppression. Systems of power don't say 'thank…

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Discovery is the ability to be puzzled by simple things. 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…

This is class war on an international scale, and power is in the hands of those who control the international economic system.

There are big, extremely irrational parts of the society, and they have now been mobilized politically by the Republican establishment, hoping that these people…

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…

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…