Roxane Gay Quotes

Public intellectuals come from a range of areas and use their expertise to comment more widely than just their field. They want to make a contribution to public space, and they stick their necks out to do it.

I think I'll always be a better playwright than a pundit, but I believe that writers should be public intellectuals and that theater, even more than film, is a place of public debate.

I strongly discourage any intellectuals, regardless of race, from speaking on matters for which they have limited or no expertise.

Because you're a crime writer you're asked to have a point of view on a lot of things, and I'm uncomfortable having public opinions on things that are not my professional area.

Isn't it in the nature of intellectuals to be culture critics?

Ideas are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Madmen in authority who hear voices in the air are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribblers of a few years back. Sooner or later, it is ideas, rather than vested interests, which are dangerous for good or for evil.

You see, the people that have a point of view and have an opinion and have some intellect are dangerous in the film community - they're dangerous.

I think Marilyn Manson has a better take on America than Michael Moore and I don't think he's appreciated for his intellect.

They don't make people like Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley anymore.

Everyone wants to be an "expert" on social media and share their opinion behind the keyboard.

It's for scientists to lay out the data and lay out what they think, and then it's for the public to make up its own mind. We don't live in a priesthood where some small group imposes its views on other people - that's not the way that science works, and it's not the way a democratic society should work.

There are aspects of '24' where I love its politics and aspects where I hate them.

I was once a graduate student in Victorian literature, and I believe as the Victorian novelists did, that a novel isn't simply a vehicle for private expression, but that it also exists for social examination. I firmly believe this.

The cartoons which I enjoy have caused some kind of out rage, but they have got people talking about these issues out in the open and in essence that's what its all about.

Bill Maher fancies himself the reincarnation of Lenny Bruce.

I think punditry serves no purpose.

If a doctor said you had stomach cancer, would you consult Rush Limbaugh for a second opinion? Of course, that sounds like nonsense, but many Americans have no qualms about listening to political commentators and untrained activists when it comes to even more complex scientific questions.

Sometimes people say I'm a political comedian, which, actually I'm not. I'm a comedian who sometimes discusses politics, culture - again, the word 'politics' to me is just life.

Injecting new ideas into public debate is the supreme function of the newspaper columnist. Politicians and civil servants absolutely will not take the risk.

There has been a subtler but very far-reaching change: the decline of respect for expertise. Americans once accepted with little question the views of experts… The experts tended to speak with one voice, and they enjoyed a reputation as neutral specialists and servants of the general welfare.

In our "age of the expert" the expert has his constituency — those who have a vested interest in commonly held opinions; elaborating and defining the consensus at a high level has, after all, made him an expert.

Every intellectual attitude is latently political.

Comedy has become, I think, a very important branch of public intellectualism. But it still ain't Washington.

Beyonce may be a gifted entertainer, but no one should really care what she thinks about any serious issue confronting our nation.

You don't that often see writers being sought out when there are matters of great moment to discuss. And I think that's a loss.