31+ Jacques Derrida Quotes From The Postmodern Philosopher
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Jacques Derrida was a French Philosopher who is revered as the person who brought forth the idea of 'deconstruction'.
Jacques Derrida was a prolific writer and academic, publishing more than forty books and hundreds of essays. His lasting presence is felt in the field of literary studies in form of Jacques Derrida quotes.
His work on deconstruction led to a fresh way to deal with the semiotic analysis of texts. Through his diverse works in philosophy, literature, and language, Jacques Derrida was able to become influential and controversial at the same time. Hence, reading quotes by Jacques Derrida gives us an insight into his thought processes.
If you find the Jacques Derrida quotes illuminating, check out Foucault quotes and Denis Diderot quotes for further awareness of Philosophy.
Jacques Derrida Postmodernism Quotes
Derrida was known for his profuse works in the field of Postmodernism seen in renowned Jacques Derrida quotes. This section contains some of the best quotes from the philosopher Jacques Derrida.
1. “The concept of writing should define the field of a science.”
‒ Jacques Derrida, ‘On Grammatology’.
2. “Will we one day be able, and in a single gesture, to join the thinking of the event to the thinking of the machine?”
‒ Jacques Derrida, ‘Typewriter Ribbon’.
3. “The machine, on the contrary, is destined to repetition. It is destined, that is, to reproduce impassively, imperceptibly, without organ or organicity, received commands.”
‒ Jacques Derrida, ‘Typewriter Ribbon’.
4. “Performativity will never be reduced to technical performance.”
‒ Jacques Derrida, ‘Typewriter Ribbon’.
5. “Cruelty might perhaps be without limit but not without opposable term, that is, endless but not without contrary.”
‒ Jacques Derrida, ‘Psychoanalysis Searches The States Of Its Soul’.
6. “I believe in the value of the book, which keeps something irreplaceable, and in the necessity of fighting to secure its respect.”
‒ Jacques Derrida, ‘Paper Machine’.
7. “To pretend, I actually do the thing: I have therefore only pretended to pretend.”
‒ Jaques Derrida.
8. “The lie is the future, one may venture to say. To tell the truth is, on the contrary, to say what is or what will have been and it would instead prefer the past.”
‒ Jacques Derrida, ‘Without Alibi’.
9. “There are things like reflecting pools, and images, an infinite reference from one to the other, but no longer a source, a spring.”
‒ Jacques Derrida, ‘Of Grammatology’.
10. “We are given over to absolute solitude. No one can speak with us and no one can speak for us; we must take it upon ourselves, each of us must take it upon himself.”
‒ Jacques Derrida, ‘The Gift Of Death’.
Quotes On Deconstruction
Deconstruction is the brainchild of Jacques Derrida and here are some important Jacques Derrida quotes from him on the topic.
11. “I always dream of a pen that would be a syringe.”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
12. “The traditional statement about language is that it is in itself living, and that writing is the dead part of language.”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
13. “A text is not a text unless it hides from the first comer, from the first glance, the law of its composition and the rules of its game. A text remains, moreover, forever imperceptible.”
‒ Jacques Derrida, ‘Dissemination’.
14. “Every sign, linguistic or nonlinguistic, spoken or written (in the usual sense of this opposition), as a small or large unity, can be cited, put between quotation marks.”
‒ Jacques Derrida, ‘Margins Of Philosophy’.
15. “In the delineation of différance everything is strategic and adventurous.”
‒ Jacques Derrida, ‘Margins Of Philosophy’.
16. “Every text participates in one or several genres, there is no genreless text; there is always a genre and genres, yet such participation never amounts to belonging.”
‒ Jacques Derrida, ‘The Law Of Genre’.
17. “That is what deconstruction is made of: not the mixture but the tension between memory, fidelity, the preservation of something that has been given to us, and, at the same time, heterogeneity, something absolutely new, and a break.”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
18. “I would say that deconstruction is affirmation rather than questioning, in a sense which is not positive: I would distinguish between the positive, or positions, and affirmations.”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
19. “There is nothing outside the text.”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
20. “Every discourse, even a poetic or oracular sentence, carries with it a system of rules for producing analogous things and thus an outline of methodology.
‒ Jacques Derrida.
21. “Deconstruction never had meaning or interest, at least in my eyes, than as a radicalization, that is to say, also within the tradition of a certain Marxism, in a certain spirit of Marxism.”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
22. “Enough on the thanks and the thanksgiving of deconstruction.”
‒ Jacques Derrida, ‘The Time Is Out Of Joint’.
23. “I have often had occasion to define deconstruction as that which is—far from a theory, a school, a method, even a discourse, still less a technique that can be appropriated—at bottom what happens or comes to pass.”
‒ Jacques Derrida, ‘The Time Is Out Of Joint’.
24. “In order to survive what one does not survive. Because one should not survive. And that is what Hamlet says, and that is what 'Hamlet', the work, does. The work alone, but alone with us, in us, as us.”
‒ Jacques Derrida, ‘The Time Is Out Of Joint’.
Essential Quotes From Derrida
Jacques Derrida quotes invokes in us the need to know things to their core. Here are some essential Jacques Derrida quotes on justice, alterity and more from the legendary French philosopher.
25. “Psychoanalysis has taught that the dead – a dead parent, for example – can be more alive for us, more powerful, more scary, than the living. It is the question of ghosts.”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
26. “Cinema plus Psychoanalysis equals the Science of Ghosts.”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
27. “There is no simple answer to such a question.”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
28. “Why is it the philosopher who is expected to be easier and not some scientist who is even more inaccessible?”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
29. “Everything is arranged so that it be this way, this is what is called culture.”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
30. “Certain readers resented me when they could no longer recognize their territory, their institution.”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
31. “These critics organize and practice in my case a sort of obsessive personality cult which philosophers should know how to question and above all, to moderate.”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
32. “I became the stage for the great argument between Nietzsche and Rousseau. I was the extra ready to take on all the roles.”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
33. “So if there is a real future, beyond the other known future, it is l’avenir (the future) in that it is the coming of the Other when I am completely unable to foresee their arrival.”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
34. “Différance refers to the active and passive movement that consists in deferring by means of delay, delegation, reprieve, referral, detour, postponement, reserving.”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
35. “It is just that there be law, but law is not justice.”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
36. “Survival in the conventional sense of the term means to continue to live, but also to live after death.”
‒ Jacques Derrida.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Jacques Derrida quotes then why not take a look at William S Burroughs quotes, or [David Hume quotes].
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A content writer and editor with a passion for sports, Moumita has honed her skills in producing compelling match reports and stories about sporting heroes. She holds a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, Calcutta University, alongside a postgraduate diploma in Sports Management.
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