Language is legislation, speech is its code. We do not see the power which is in speech because we forget that all speech is a classification, and that all classifications are oppressive.

Quote by Roland Barthes

Topics: Roland Barthes Quotes

What the public wants is the image of passion, not passion itself

What the public wants is the image of passion, not passion itself

Language is legislation, speech is its code. We do not see the power which is...

Language is legislation, speech is its code. We do not see the power which is...

A photograph is always invisible, it is not it that we see.

A photograph is always invisible, it is not it that we see.

New York... is a city of geometric heights, a petrified desert of grids and lattices,...

New York... is a city of geometric heights, a petrified desert of grids and lattices,...

Pleasure is continually disappointed, reduced, deflated, in favor of strong, noble values: Truth, Death, Progress,...

Pleasure is continually disappointed, reduced, deflated, in favor of strong, noble values: Truth, Death, Progress,...

To try to write love is to confront the muck of language: that region of...

To try to write love is to confront the muck of language: that region of...

The New is not a fashion, it is a value.

The New is not a fashion, it is a value.

The bastard form of mass culture is humiliated repetition... always new books, new programs, new...

The bastard form of mass culture is humiliated repetition... always new books, new programs, new...

Myth is neither a lie nor a confession: it is an inflexion.

Myth is neither a lie nor a confession: it is an inflexion.

Other countries drink to get drunk, and this is accepted by everyone; in France, drunkenness...

Other countries drink to get drunk, and this is accepted by everyone; in France, drunkenness...

To eat steak rare... represents both a nature and a morality.

To eat steak rare... represents both a nature and a morality.

Pleasure is continually disappointed, reduced, deflated, in favor of strong, noble values: Truth, Death, Progress,...

Pleasure is continually disappointed, reduced, deflated, in favor of strong, noble values: Truth, Death, Progress,...

There is only one way left to escape the alienation of present day society: to...

There is only one way left to escape the alienation of present day society: to...

Language is a skin: I rub my language against the other. It is as if...

Language is a skin: I rub my language against the other. It is as if...

The photographic image... is a message without a code.

The photographic image... is a message without a code.

Through the mythology of Einstein, the world blissfully regained the image of knowledge reduced to...

Through the mythology of Einstein, the world blissfully regained the image of knowledge reduced to...

Literature is the question minus the answer.

Literature is the question minus the answer.

For the theatre one needs long arms; it is better to have them too long...

For the theatre one needs long arms; it is better to have them too long...

I call the discourse of power any discourse that engenders blame, hence guilt, in its...

I call the discourse of power any discourse that engenders blame, hence guilt, in its...

I have tried to be as eclectic as I possibly can with my professional life,...

I have tried to be as eclectic as I possibly can with my professional life,...