Noam Chomsky Quotes

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.

Something I've realized lately, to my shock, is that I am an optimist, in that I think humans are almost infinitely capable of self-change and self-modification, and that we really can build the future that we want if we're smart about it.

Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.

We are not what we are, nor do we treat or esteem each other for such, but for what we are capable of being.

One of the most powerful forces in human nature is our belief that change is possible.

People can change anything they want to, and that means everything in the world.

Start using your wings; they need some exercise.

I just think that we're capable of so much more; we don't utilize all our capacity like we should.

We always think that everybody can do a little bit more, if not a lot more.

I believe that being an actress or being involved in a movie has to be a life experience, otherwise why go for it? I have to change me, and I have to learn things, and I have to push me and my limits. By acting, I find a freedom inside of a prison in a way.

Everything in the world can be changed, my dear Florestan, but the human being.

If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.

If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?

Freedom means the opportunity to be what we never thought we would be.

Whatsoever things common to man, that man has done, man can do.

All things are possible until they are proved impossible - and even the impossible may only be so, as of now.

We are all idealists in that we are ever discontented with the present state of the Ego and the World.

The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck.

There is no place in a city that can't be better. There is no toad that can't be a princess, no frog that can't become a prince.

We know what we are, but know not what we may be.

I'd say Harvard graduates leave here with a sense of the possible and the limit - and a sense that there are no limits to what humans can do and that you can always be pushing, whatever limit you think might be there.

Reality is a form of idolatry. It allows what is to define and limit what might be.

To be enthusiastic about doing much with human nature is a foolish business indeed

If you're a human being, you can attempt to do what other human beings have done. We don't understand talent any more than we understand electricity.

We must develop the capacity to see men not as they are at present but as they may become.