Quote

You never need an argument against the use of violence, you need an argument for it.

Noam Chomsky

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Noam Chomsky
Age: 96
Born: 1928
Born: December 7
Anthropologist
Computer Scientist
Historian
Human Rights Activist
Linguist
Media Critic
Opinion Journalist
Pedagogue
Philosopher
East Oak Lane
Philadelphia
Avram Noam Chomsky
A. Noam Chomsky
Chomsky
Needs
Never
Antiwar
Argument
Violence
Peace
Use
War
Need

More quotes by Noam Chomsky

Image
I think half the population supports this ban on these dangerous immigrants who are going to come in and do something, who knows what. And meanwhile the countries that really have been involved in terrorism, they're out. It's kind of like I think it was Oklahoma banning Sharia law.
Noam Chomsky
Image
Colombia has been the leading western recipient of U.S. arms and training as violence has grown through the '90s.
Noam Chomsky
Image
. . . among all grammars meeting this condition (of adequacy), we select the simplest.
Noam Chomsky
Image
[CIA manipulating] has its roots in internal Pakistani affairs. It's a horrible development and phenomenon which goes back to radical Islamisation under Zia and taking away the long standing rights of people in the tribal areas [who were left largely alone].
Noam Chomsky
Image
A democracy barely functions under the neoliberal system.
Noam Chomsky
Image
The media is uncritical, and their so-called the concept of objectivity translates into keeping everything within the Beltway. However, Iraq was quite different. Here, there were flat-out lies, and they sort of knew it. They were desperately trying to make connections between Saddam Hussein and 9/11.
Noam Chomsky
Image
If you want to end terrorism stop participating in it.
Noam Chomsky
Image
Radical activists can't ignore the fact that we live in this world, like it or not, and have to make difficult decisions about which paths are the best - or sometimes, the least harmful. There are no abstract formulas. Have to think through each case on its own.
Noam Chomsky
Image
I think there are real possibilities of reaching out to many of the Trump voters, those who voted for Obama believing his rhetoric.
Noam Chomsky
Image
We had one or another form of state capitalism during an extremely brief period of human history, which tells us essentially nothing about human nature. If you look at human societies and human interactions, you can find anything. You find selfishness, you find altruism, you find sympathy.
Noam Chomsky
Image
Industrial production of meat makes a huge contribution to global warming.
Noam Chomsky
Image
[Companies that specialized in how to destroy unions] don't make it a secret, and they have all sorts of techniques for management to destroy unions.
Noam Chomsky
Image
It's hard to achieve that, especially in a free society, but it's been done, and that's the kind of thing that activists in the IWW have to work against, right on the shop floor. It's not so simple, but it's been done before.
Noam Chomsky
Image
The basic principle, rarely violated, is that what conflicts with the requirements of power and privilege does not exist.
Noam Chomsky
Image
There is no reason to accept the doctrines crafted to sustain power and privilege, or to believe that we are constrained by mysterious and unknown social laws.
Noam Chomsky
Image
We shouldn't be looking for heroes, we should be looking for good ideas.
Noam Chomsky
Image
We can imagine a society in which no one could survive as a social being because it does not correspond to biologically determined perceptions and human social needs. For historical reasons, existing societies might have such properties, leading to various forms of pathology.
Noam Chomsky
Image
Let's imagine again an observer looking at us without any preconceptions. I think he would be struck by the fact that although human beings have the capacity to develop scientific knowledge, it must be a very limited capacity because it is only done in very narrow and specific domains.
Noam Chomsky
Image
All forms of involuntary servitude are prohibited, not only slavery but also conscription, forced association, and forced welfare distribution.
Noam Chomsky
Image
[After Vietnam] the type of interventions that are carried out are designed so as not to elicit public reactions.
Noam Chomsky