Good Quotes: Noam Chomsky On Hope

"Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, it’s unlikely you will step up and take responsibility for making it so. If you assume that there’s no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things, there’s a chance you may contribute to making a better world. The choice is yours."
Noam Chomsky

Still feeling a bit excited from today's inauguration of President Obama, we felt these were great words for us all to expand upon. Click through the jump to leave us your thoughts...

Have a comment on the day in general or the quote above? Let us know in the comments below!

Artwork by Shepard Fairey who has put in many hours on the Obama 09' campaign.

Comments (17)

Great quote - but I reeeally can't stand Fairey.

This quote applies to so much in today's world. Politics, sustainability, our own personal lives, Thank you AT.

Nice that he used the same graphics as the MoveOn "Yes We Did" sticker...not.

Great message, really not that profound though. Sorry, not a fan of Noam Chomsky.

First of all I doubt that Noam made that poster himself. Considering he is a Professor at MIT and a best selling author. So don't judge him. Next I am sorry to her lab director is a capitalist. Not something I thought I would find on AT.

Please... don't post anymore Fairey stuff. The guy has made a living by ripping and altering the works of others. There are website dedicated to proving this, and Fairey himself hasn't really denied it...

Editors (and commenters), please understand the following: not all readers are liberal, not all voted for Obama, not all are excited about the next four years in politics. While I can respect your enthusiasm, I wish more visitors and contributors to AT would respect the fact that not everybody shares their views, and it's narrow-minded and alienating to imply that their view is the only one that makes sense or belongs on this site. I'm sure there's a wide range of people that enjoy these posts, and anyone who is following Obama's professed ideology would be focusing more on the things that unite us rather those that divide us.

Incidentally, is anyone seriously surprised to find capitalists on AT, a site which regularly posts tips for smart buying, sales, extraordinarily expensive and essentially unnecessary objects, etc. all of which feed into the market economy and encourage at least some kind of privately owned wealth?

I'm sure the linguistics professor would cringe at the misspelling of "professor" in the illustration. And is his activism for the rights of 1 worker ("worker's rights") or more ("workers' rights")?

I can't always contribute design ideas or commentary, but I can pick out grammar, spelling & punctuation errors!

Obama is a politician. Optimism without reality borders on fantasy.

Jacque Fresco offers me more hope for the future than either of them combined. --"It is not enough to criticize society without offering a workable alternative."

thanks mmwitzke. Believe it or not I'm an artist who is conservative as well, it is possible to be both. I hate how liberals claim to have a monopoly on creativity.

Again, I think Chomsky's message is fine and good, but please, enough with trendy posters of hip liberal pop-culture icons...

Applause to mmwitzke...

mmwitzke et al., seriously? suck it up, or go home.

"Applause to mmwitzke..."

Yes, that's what I failed to mention in my original post. :)

Well, I for one am a huge fan of Noam Chomsky's, and am happy that he is getting more exposure.

His writings are insightful and pertinent, and the talk he gave last week is particularly important at this moment in history.

Not a fan of Fairey's though.

I second mmwitzke. Keep politics out of AT.