Noam Chomsky
1928– · American linguist and activist (born 1928)
Topics: learning, life, science, creativity
If you can think of nothing that wouldn't do harm, then do nothing.
— Noam ChomskyThe more there is a need to talk about the ideals of democracy, the less democratic the system usually is.
— Noam ChomskyIf you're in favor of freedom of speech, that means you're in favor of freedom of speech precisely for views you despise.
— Noam ChomskyThere's a good reason why nobody studies history. It just teaches you too much.
— Noam ChomskyThe responsibility of the writer as a moral agent is to try to bring the truth about matters of human significance to an audience that can do something about them.
— Noam ChomskyBecause they don't teach the truth about the world, schools have to rely on beating students over the head with propaganda about democracy.
— Noam ChomskyThere is a noticeable general difference between the sciences and mathematics on the one hand, and the humanities and social sciences on the other.
— Noam ChomskySyntactic investigation of a given language has as its goal the construction of a grammar that can be viewed as a device of some sort for producing the sentences of the language under analysis.
— Noam ChomskyThere are many facts about language and linguistic behavior that require explanation beyond the fact that such and such a string (which no one may ever have produced) is or is not a sentence. It is reasonable to expect grammars to provide explanations for some of these facts.
— Noam ChomskyThe deep structure that expresses the meaning is common to all languages, so it is claimed, being a simple reflection of the forms of thought.
— Noam ChomskyYou can lie or distort the story of the French Revolution as long as you like, and nothing will happen. Propose a false theory in chemistry, and it'll be refuted tomorrow.
— Noam ChomskyIf we don't believe in free expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.
— Noam Chomsky