19 quotes
French philosopher and essayist
“To make someone wait: the constant prerogative of all power, "age-old pastime of humanity".”
"Literature is like phosphorus: it shines with its maximum brilliance and the moment when it attempts to die."
on Writing
"The text is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres of culture."
"What I claim is to live to the full the contradiction of my time, which may well make sarcasm the condition of truth."
on Truth
"Today there is no symbolic compensation for old age, no recognition of a specific value: wisdom, perceptiveness, experience, vision."
on Wisdom
"A photograph is always invisible, it is not it that we see."
on Art
"We don’t forget, but something vacant settles in us."
on Grief
"There is only one way left to escape the alienation of present day society: to retreat ahead of it."
on Philosophy
"The author enters into his own death, writing begins."
"Above all, do not attempt to be exhaustive."
"As soon as someone dies, frenzied construction of the future (shifting furniture, etc.): futuromania."
on Death
"Each of us has his own rhythm of suffering."
"I have not a desire but a need for solitude."
on Life
"Boredom is not far from bliss: it is bliss seen from the shores of pleasure."
on Happiness
"Don’t bleach language, savour it instead. Stroke it gently or even groom it, but don’t “purify” it."
"Language is neither reactionary nor progressive; it is quite simply fascist; for fascism does not prevent speech, it compels speech."
on Communication
"Engulfment is a moment of hypnosis."
on Mindfulness
"We know that the war against intelligence is always waged in the name of common sense."
"The incapacity to name is a good symptom of disturbance."
on Psychology
