There is no plausible theory under which the record of the Pentagon Papers can be interpreted as relating to the national defense.
Noam ChomskyRead
Don't be obsessed with tactics but with purpose. Tactics have a half life.
Interpretation
Focus on your goals rather than just the methods to achieve them, as tactics can become outdated.
This quote emphasizes the importance of having a clear and lasting purpose in life over merely honing specific tactics or methods. Noam Chomsky suggests that tactics are temporary and can lose their effectiveness over time, whereas a strong purpose or goal provides direction and meaning, helping individuals navigate through challenges and changes in their approaches.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal development.
There is no plausible theory under which the record of the Pentagon Papers can be interpreted as relating to the national defense.
The 'free-floating intellectual' may occupy himself with problems because of their inherent interest and importance, perhaps to little effect.
If you're teaching today what you were teaching five years ago, either the field is dead or you are.
There are very few people who are going to look into the mirror and say, 'That person I see is a savage monster;' instead, they make up some construction that justifies what they do.
The Republican Party has become overwhelmingly so extreme that it's hardly a traditional political party anymore.
There is still much debate about whether torture has been effective in eliciting information - the assumption being, apparently, that if it is effective, then it may be justified.
If others hurt you, let the injury go. This is your test. If you let it go, you will find serenity.
Stupidity, outrage, vanity, cruelty, iniquity, bad faith, falsehood - we fail to see the whole array when it is facing in the same direction as we.
Experience has taught me that those who give their time to the absorbing claims of what is called society, not having leisure to keep up a large acquaintance with the organs of opinion, remain much more ignorant of the general state either of the public mind, or of the active and instructed part of it, than a recluse who reads the newspapers need be.
Anything or anyone that asks you to be other than yourself is not holy, but is trying only to fill its own need.
You've got to get out and pray to the sky to appreciate the sunshine; otherwise you're just a lizard standing there with the sun shining on you.
Choosing to take responsibility for ourselves and for the consequences our choices create looks like hard work, but it really sets us free.
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