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

The politician being interviewed clearly takes a great deal of trouble to imagine an ending...

The politician being interviewed clearly takes a great deal of trouble to imagine an ending...

Literature is without proofs. By which it must be understood that it cannot prove, not...

Literature is without proofs. By which it must be understood that it cannot prove, not...

What I claim is to live to the full the contradiction of my time, which...

What I claim is to live to the full the contradiction of my time, which...

Literature is the question minus the answer.

Literature is the question minus the answer.

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,...

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...

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,...

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

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

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

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

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...

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...

Literature is without proofs. By which it must be understood that it cannot prove, not...

Literature is without proofs. By which it must be understood that it cannot prove, not...

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...

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...

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

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

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

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

Literature is the question minus the answer.

Literature is the question minus the answer.

It wasn't until the Nobel Prize that they really thawed out. They couldn't understand my...

It wasn't until the Nobel Prize that they really thawed out. They couldn't understand my...

Literature is made upon any occasion that a challenge is put to the legal apparatus...

Literature is made upon any occasion that a challenge is put to the legal apparatus...

It is doubtful whether mankind are most indebted to those who like Bacon and Butler...

It is doubtful whether mankind are most indebted to those who like Bacon and Butler...