Noam Chomsky Quotes

It seems we're not only uninformed about our present, we're ignorant of our past.

To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.

Certainly, the illiterates of past centuries, then an enormous majority of mankind, knew little of the history of their respective countries and of their civilization. In the minds of modern illiterates, however, who know how to read and write and even teach in schools and at universities, history is present but blurred, in a state of strange confusion; Molière becomes a contemporary of Napoleon, Voltaire, a contemporary of Lenin.

We Americans are the best informed people on earth as to the events of the last twenty-four hours; we are the not the best informed as the events of the last sixty centuries.

There's no excuse for the young people not knowing who the heroes and heroines are or were.

Traveling around I don't think people are that horrible, I think they just don't know.

When I was in South Africa, I went for dinner with some friends, and I knew more about their history than they did - it just hasn't been told.

To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity is to continue in a state of childhood all our days.

I'm somewhat horrified because I don't think the young people today even know what history is. Some of them don't' even study History at school anymore or Geography and they don't know where one place is from another.

I think people in general have neglected to learn about history.

Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times.

Those of our people who do not study history can be duped into believing anything.

Americans today don’t know history—even the smart ones who went to Ivy League schools.

We are raising students in America who are, by and large, historically illiterate.

There is no excuse for letting another generation be as vastly ignorant, or as devoid of understanding … as we are ourselves.

Even getting a college degree does not guarantee a minimal knowledge of U.S. history.

The people with the passports, the people who travel more, tend to be the most understanding. And it's ironic that the people who travel the least have the strongest opinions about the people they've never met.

You gotta understand a lot of hip-hop kids are going to have the hip-hop mentality. And it's sad because they're not educated enough to understand what hip-hop culture is really about.

I think a sense of history and perspective for our young people today is essential.

With regard to matters requiring thought: the less people know and understand about them, the more positively they attempt to argue concerning them.

To remain ignorant of history is to remain forever a child

Not to know what happened before means to remain forever a child.

It is important to know the stories and histories of things, even if all we know is that we don't know.

We should see to it that our people are steeped in a real knowledge and understanding of our national culture.

There are a great many people who do not understand things so there is no use in telling them.