Intellectual Quotes

“Intellectuals are a dominated fraction of the dominant class.”

“To say that the 'clerk's' treason dates from yesterday would be ridiculous.”

“The man of letters who has always been supposed to be the guardian of abstract truth, has betrayed this office for the advantage of a nation or a class.”

“Hence we have the man of learning who is a violent nationalist and the man of letters who is a violent nationalist.”

“It has been a bitter experience to see the unanimity with which the American intellectuals have thrown their support to the use of force.”

“Intellectuals are the first to desert the old regime.”

“Men of letters, saints and martyrs have been the levers that have moved the world.”

“My definition of an intellectual is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger.”

“The intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex.”

“To be an intellectual really means to be in the profession of thinking.”

“The unpreparedness of the educated classes... their cowardice at the decisive moment of the struggle will give rise to tragic mishaps.”

“The intellectual's weapon is the word.”

“There was no point in seeking to convert the intellectuals. For intellectuals would never be converted and would anyway always yield to the stronger, and this will always be the man in the street.”

“One of the surprising privileges of intellectuals is that they are free to be scandalously stupid.”

“The intellectual is a man who speaks with a certain hesitation.”

“The job of the intellectual is not to be a cheerleader for the state.”

“To be an intellectual is to be a man who lives for ideas and has a passion for their clarification.”

“Intellectuals are what they are: the moral bad conscience of their people.”

“To be an intellectual really means to be interested in ideas.”

“The intellectual's role is to speak truth to power.”