Noam Chomsky

French intellectual life has, in my opinion, been turned into something cheap and meretricious by the ‘star’ system. It is like Hollywood. Thus we go from one absurdity to another – Stalinism, existentialism. Lacan, Derrida – some of them obscene ( Stalinism), some simply infantile and ridiculous ( Lacan, Derrida). What is striking, however, is the pomposity and self-importance, at each stage.

Under Obama, the [Democratic] party was reduced to shambles at the local and state level, a particularly serious matter because the 2020 elections will determine redistricting, offering opportunities for gerrymandering even beyond today’s scandalous situation.

Descriptive grammar is an attempt to give an account of what the current system is for either a society or an individual, whatever you happen to be studying.

Power that isn’t really justified by the will of the governed should be dismantled.

So investors don’t go down to the television studio and make sure that the local talk show host or news director is doing what they want. On the other hand, there are other complex mechanisms which make it fairly certain that they will do what the owners and investors want.

So…should we take our guns, go out in the street and start destroying Chase Manhattan bank. Well if you want to get killed in five minutes that’s a good suggestion. Other than that it has absolutely nothing to do with the world so there is not any point in even discussing it.

I want to walk through life instead of being dragged through it.

When I was a little girl, I so wanted to be sociable, but I was scared that I wasn’t going to be able to speak a sentence because I had such a bad stammer.

We have finished the job, what shall we do with the tools?

Don’t find fault, find a remedy; anybody can complain.

There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.

I have survivor’s curiosity, I guess.

It is easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.

History is more or less bunk.

Teach children not to be gullible.

Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.

Success means different things in different parts of my life, but overall if I have to define ultimately what success means – the bottom line – then for me it’s if the family is healthy and happy.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Clouds float in the same pattern only once.

Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.