128 Quotes by Jacques Derrida

As soon as there is language, generality has entered the scen.

In certain situations, there is a classical function and responsibility there that must not be avoided, even if it is just to appeal to good sense.

Such a caring for death, an awakening that keeps vigil over death, a conscience that looks death in the face, is another name for freedom.

I rightly pass for an atheist.

Beyond the touchline there is nothing.

I believe in the value of the book, which keeps something irreplaceable, and in the necessity of fighting to secure its respect.

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.

There is nothing outside of the text. [Fr., Il n'y a pas de hors-texte.]

A determination or an effect within a system which is no longer that of a presence but of a diffrance, a system that no longer tolerates the opposition of activity and passivity, nor that of cause and effect, or of indetermination and determination, etc., such that in designating consciousness as an effect or a determination, one continues - for strategic reasons that can be more or less lucidly deliberated and systematically calculated - to operate according to the lexicon of that which one is de-limiting.