Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Intellectuals appear foolish when they act as the sole guardians of civilization.
In plain terms
Intellectuals look silly when they act like the only decent people.
What can you take from it?
Pretending to be the last civilized person is absurd.

Where it applies

  • critiquing academics
  • observing public discourse

Putting it to work

  • identifying pretension

Questions to consider

  • Is intellectual humility rare?
  • How do we avoid sounding foolish?

Another view

It generalizes all intellectuals as arrogant.

More from Christopher Hitchens

  1. The polls undoubtedly help to decide what people think, but their most important long-term influence may be on how people think. The interrogative process is v…

    Permalink to quote #41
  2. The secular state is the guarantee of religious pluralism. This apparent paradox, again, is the simplest and most elegant of political truths.

    Permalink to quote #43
  3. The United States has an isolationist and insular culture, combined with a global and interventionist posture. This highly dangerous and febrile mixture, which…

    Permalink to quote #40

Related quotes

  1. 'Our society is besotted by the cult of the ego: books, television programmes, films, literature, magazines, are awash with stories and dramas about personal r…

    David MyattDavid Myatt quote #1
  2. In fact, at this point in history, the most radical, pervasive, and earth-shaking transformation would occur simply if everybody truly evolved to a mature, rat…

    Ken WilberKen Wilber quote #1
  3. La trahison des clercs

    Julien BendaJulien Benda quote #1