Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
As you deal with more and more complex systems, it becomes harder and harder to find deep and interesting properties.
Human nature is not totally fixed, but on any realistic scale, evolutionary processes are much too slow to affect it.
California is maybe the richest place in the world. They're destroying the best public education system in the world.
You have 30% of the world unemployed, a huge amount of work, that needs to be done just rebuilding the society alone.
It is important to bear in mind that political campaigns are designed by the same people who sell toothpaste and cars.
There has been a huge attack against private sector unions. Actually, that's been going on since the Second World War.
If humans were totally unstructured creatures, they would be... a tool which can properly be shaped by outside forces.
I don't see much use in general slogans. Sometimes it is worth resisting evil with lesser evil, very commonly in fact.
I doubt that national languages will disappear. In fact, to some extent they're becoming more diverse, like in Europe.
Anywhere in Latin America there is a potential threat of the pathology of caudillismo and it has to be guarded against.
I don't see any possibility of Britain and the U.S. allowing a sovereign independent Iraq; that's almost inconceivable.
If you look back at the history of the twentieth century, Germany alone had practically destroyed Russia several times.
Obama has succeeded in descending even below George W. Bush in approval in the Arab world. It's minuscule, few percent.
In fact, the capitalist class in the '50s was sort of part of a social contract. It was part of the tenor of the times.
There certainly are those who worship the state much as divinities are worshipped. Not just the state but even leaders.
Maybe the science is uncertain, maybe we don't have to worry about it. Climate change is the worst, but there's others.
Education is not for profit. If you're not in education for profit, it's not going to be a fair critique for education.
Nicaragua was destabilizing Central America, meaning moving in a direction the US didn't like. So Nicaragua was crushed.
When George W. Bush came into office, North Korea had maybe one nuclear weapon and verifiably wasn't producing any more.
In societies that profess some respect for law, suspects are apprehended and brought to fair trial. I stress 'suspects.'
Organization and education, when they interact with each other, they strengthen each other, they are mutually supportive.
If we move toward the weaponisation of space, we can bid farewell to the planet. The chances of survival are very slight.
The basic principle, rarely violated, is that what conflicts with the requirements of power and privilege does not exist.
Under the worst conditions, horrendous conditions, people still, you know, fight for their rights and don't just succumb.
Technology can also be used so that private individuals will have access to the way centralized decisions are being made.
Significant anniversaries are solemnly commemorated - Japan's attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, for example.
Where are the drug cartels getting their weapons? They are being provided by the United States. Cut off that flow of arms.
Now financial liberalization is just a catastrophe waiting to happen, and there are very well understood reasons for that.
The world is a very puzzling place. If you're not willing to be puzzled, you just become a replica of someone else's mind.
Very urgent measures need to be taken, and without much delay, in dealing with the ongoing destruction of the environment.
When I am at home, I never watch TV, but when I am abroad in a hotel I take a look at the BBC to find out what's going on.
History records endless struggles to enlarge those realms, inspiring ones; it also records painful reversals and setbacks.
People who call themselves supporters of Israel are actually supporters of its moral degeneration and ultimate destruction.
The educational system is pretty much geared to passing the next exam. You're educated to pass tests and not to understand.
Obama's latest line is that he didn't establish a "red line" but the world did through its conventions on chemical warfare.
The more privilege you have, the more opportunity you have. The more opportunity you have, the more responsibility you have.
Intellectuals (in the standard sense of the term, not [ Edward] Said's prescriptive sense) are the people who write history.
The British had an even stronger [then America] business interest in Nazi Germany. And Benito Mussolini was greatly admired.
In the United States, and to a certain extent in Canada, there's very little interest in what happens outside their borders.
NAFTA was much more popular among US corporations than GATT, because NAFTA is highly protectionist in ways that GATT is not.
In the late 1960s, the masses were supposed to be passive, not entering into the public arena and having their voices heard.
It makes sense to work towards a better world, but it doesn't make any sense to have illusions about what the real world is.
When secular figures are turned into divinities, they way they are in Peian Yang or Stanford University - that I don't like.
There are many cases around the world in which the presence of UN peace-keeping forces has had a somewhat beneficial effect.
Julian Assange shouldn't be the subject of a grand jury hearing, he should be given a medal. He's contributing to democracy.
Pakistan will never be able to match the Indian militarily, and the effort to do so is taking an immense toll on the society.
It is now well-known that the Taliban's creation was facilitated by the CIA and the ISI as part of the 1980s anti-Soviet war.
Governments are not representative. They have their own power, serving segments of the population that are dominant and rich.
A bombing was planned [in Syria], which would probably make the situation worse, but would at least establish US credibility.
In some respects, South African apartheid was more vicious than Israeli practices, and in some respects the opposite is true.