#intellectuals

You want us all to be snake-charmers and scorpion-eaters," he raged, at one point in their conversation ... "Naturally," Eunice replied in her most provoking manner. "It would be far preferable to being a nation of tenth-rate pseudo-civilized rug-sellers. ↗

— Paul Bowles

#nature

Respectable opinion would never consider an assessment of the Reagan Doctrine or earlier exercises in terms of their actual human costs, and could not comprehend that such an assessment—which would yield a monstrous toll if accurately conducted on a global scale—might perhaps be a proper task in the United States. At the same level of integrity, disciplined Soviet intellectuals are horrified over real or alleged American crimes, but perceive their own only as benevolent intent gone awry, or errors of an earlier day, now overcome; the comparison is inexact and unfair, since Soviet intellectuals can plead fear as an excuse for their services to state violence. ↗

— Noam Chomsky

#consensus #fear #hypocrisy #intellectuals #international-law

Jewish intellectuals contributed a great deal to insure that Europe became a continent of humanism, and it is with these humanist ideals that Europe must now intervene in the Middle East conflict. ↗

— Daniel Barenboim

#conflict #continent #contributed #deal #east

We've no use for intellectuals in this outfit. What we need is chimpanzees. Let me give you a word of advice: never say a word to us about being intelligent. We will think for you, my friend. Don't forget it. ↗

— Louis-Ferdinand Celine

#advice #being #forget #friend #give

In the Arab world, there is no link between the cultural habits of peoples and the ways of thinking and creating of modern intellectuals. They are two separate worlds. ↗

— Tahar Ben Jelloun

#arab world #between #creating #cultural #habits

There was a very serious communist strain among American intellectuals before the war. America was a more tolerant place in those days, and Communists were not treated as pariahs. That ended with the McCarthy era. ↗

— Ken Follett

#american #among #before #communist #communists

Intellectuals try to keep going. But their situation is very difficult. Those who have had the courage to voice their opposition have often paid a very high price. ↗

— Tahar Ben Jelloun

#difficult #going #had #high #high price

It is ironic that the United States should have been founded by intellectuals, for throughout most of our political history, the intellectual has been for the most part either an outsider, a servant or a scapegoat. ↗

— Richard Hofstadter

#either #founded #history #intellectual #intellectuals

There is a gulf between the Arab peoples and Arab intellectuals. ↗

— Tahar Ben Jelloun

#between #gulf #intellectuals

We do not have many intellectuals who can speak out for us internationally. We have no writers who are recognized, respected and loved outside the Arab world. ↗

— Tahar Ben Jelloun

#arab world #intellectuals #internationally #loved #many