Jacob Bronowski Quotes

I don't consider myself an intellectual. And this is not one of my aims. But I admire intellectual people.

Americans are genuinely and profoundly anti-intellectual. They are especially so in their pleasure-seeking, which is epically banal.

I love academics, theory and all that. I love and admire that and try to do as much reading as I can.

I think if I hadn't become a sociologist, I would have become very anti-intellectual.

The word philosophy sounds high-minded, but it simply means the love of wisdom. If you love something, you don't just read about it; you hug it, you mess with it, you play with it, you argue with it.

I am probably a pseudo-intellectual.

What are we promoting in society? Well-behaved automatons that spew back what they learned in a book. That's not science. You can get a parrot to do that.

In the Sanghi family, there is no one who has undertaken intellectual pursuits.

The intellectual ... may live for ideas, as I have said, but something must prevent him from living for one idea, from becoming obsessive or grotesque. Although there have been zealots whom we may still regard as intellectuals, zealotry is a defect of the breed and not of the essence.

I have a great affection for people who are intellectually engaged with the world, and who don't treat everything superficially. And I think, when people talk about nerdiness, what they're really talking about is smart people who who are trying to think hard about the world. And I don't think that's an insult, I think that's a great thing.

Am I an intellectual? I don't think so. Less than people sometimes think, I have to say. But more than some others think.

I would call an intellectual one whose instrument of work - his mind - is also his major source of pleasure; a man whose entertainment is his intelligence.

The air of ideas is the only air worth breathing.

If I could do anything in my life and be remembered for anything, I would like to be remembered for helping the world see the value of physical engagement with ideas.

There can be no two opinions as to what a highbrow is. He is the man or woman of thoroughbred intelligence who rides his mind at a gallop across country in pursuit of an idea.

I don't want your vote. I want something more important. I want your commitment to think. Because once you start thinking, I'll get your vote.

And seek for truth in the groves of Academy

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

The specious figments of genius, and the erratic flights of philosophy, may excite our wonder, but they cannot stand the ordeal of scrutiny, or the Lydian touch of experiment.

I am an academic, and I have always made it clear that my ultimate home is in the realm of ideas.

I grew up in this house of intellectuals, and for me, it wasn't, like, a negative thing. And what I've discovered is, for a lot of people, it is. But I think knowing history, liking to talk about ideas - like, I just genuinely like to geek out and go on these intellectual thought journeys.

As an academic, I value the free exchange of ideas.

I like reading things where someone's looked at what I do with some honesty, and maybe been challenged by it, and they have something to say that shows they've thought about it, even if they don't necessarily like it.

I think a well-rounded education keeps us from being bored and boring!

I'm quite intellectual. I read a lot and I'm very politically aware.