"There is a noticeable general difference between the sciences and mathematics on the one hand, and the humanities and social sciences on the other. It's a first approximation, but one that is real. In the former, the factors of integrity tend to dominate more over the factors of ideology. It's not that scientists are more honest people. It's just that nature is a harsh taskmaster. You can lie or distort the story of the French Revolution as long as you like, and nothing will happen. Propose a false theory in chemistry, and it'll be refuted tomorrow."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Noam Chomsky (1992) in Noam Chomsky: A Life of Dissent, July 22, 1992
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/French_Revolution
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
French Revolution
59 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by French Revolution →
Related Quotes
"Since the outbreak of the French Revolution, the world has been moving with ever increasing speed towards a new confl…"
"You can lock the door upon them, but they burst open their shaky lattices and call out over the house-tops so that me…"
"Louis XVI, after confessing that despotism was useless, even to make men happy by compulsion, appealed to the nation …"
"It was the French and not the American Revolution that set the world on fire, and it was consequently from the course…"
"[T]wo parties diametrically opposed by their system and their plan for the public administration... I am ready to bel…"
"The grandeur of the Revolution in the eyes of those who had witnessed it, or had received its tradition from actors i…"
"Since the great French Revolution all colour has been gradually dying out of the male costume, until we have got redu…"
"The French had shown themselves the ablest architects of ruin that had hitherto existed in the world. In that very sh…"
"What was done in France was a wild attempt to methodize anarchy; to perpetuate and fix disorder. That it was a foul, …"
"The essential result of the French revolution was to establish the doctrine of popular sovereignty as the foundation …"