Quotessence
Home / Authors / Roland Barthes
Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes Quotes

Philosopher

Filter quotes by topic

AllMourningPhotographPhotographyLanguageDesireLossGriefLoveWritingDoe

Famous Roland Barthes Quotes

“The Winter Photograph was my Ariadne, not because it would help me discover a secret thing (monster or treasure), but because it would tell me what constituted that thread which drew me toward Photography. I had understood that henceforth I must interrogate the evidence of Photography, not from the viewpoint of pleasure, but in relation to what we romantically call love and death.”

HelpingPleasureSecretPhotographyUnderstoodEvidenceRelationWinterPhotographMonstersTreasureHelp MeThreadViewpointsLove And DeathAriadne
Author:Roland Barthes
Create image

“For Death must be somewhere in a society; if it is no longer (or less intensely) in religion, it must be elsewhere; perhaps in this image which produces Death while trying to preserve life. Contemporary with the withdrawal of rites, Photography may correspond to the intrusion, in our modern society, of an asymbolic Death, outside of religion, outside of ritual, a kind of abrupt dive into literal Death.”

IfsTryingKindMayModernProducePhotographyContemporaryPreservesRitualElsewhereLiteralModern SocietyRiteWithdrawalIntrusion
Author:Roland Barthes
Create image

“One of the marks of our world is perhaps this reversal: we live according to a generalized image-repertoire. Consider the United Sates, where everything is transformed into images: only images exist and are produced and are consumes ... Such a reversal necessarily raises the ethical question: not that the image is immoral, irreligious, or diabolic (as some have declared it, upon the advent of the Photograph), but because, when generalized, it completely de-realizes the human world of conflicts and desires, under cover of illustrating it.”

WorldHumansDesireRealizingUnitedConflictMarkRaisesPhotographOur WorldEthicalTransformedImmoralAdventReversalIllustratingEthical Questions
Author:Roland Barthes
Create image

“To hide a passion totally (or even to hide, more simply, its excess) is inconceivable: not because the human subject is too weak, but because passion is in essence made to be seen: the hiding must be seen: I want you to know that I am hiding something from you, that is the active paradox I must resolve: at one and the same time it must be known and not known: I want you to know that I don't want to show my feelings: that is the message I address to the other.”

KnowsWantHumansMadeShowsFeelingsPassionKnownSubjectsMessagesWeakEssenceActiveAddressesParadoxResolveHidingExcessI Want YouHiding Something
Author:Roland Barthes
Create image