In the “City of God,” St. Augustine tells the story of a pirate captured by Alexander the Great. The Emperor angrily demanded of him, “How dare you molest the seas?” To which the pirate replied, “How dare you molest the whole world? Because I do it with a small boat, I am called a pirate and a thief. You, with a great navy, molest the world and are called an emperor.”
Hat tip to MR, via others. The quote is from Norm Chomsky’s Pirates and Emperors.
2 Responses
For a second I was going to be delighted by the fact that there is someone out there named “norm chomsky” but then I realized it was just a typo. It’s just good old Noam.
Is this a swipe at the American Navy?