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Quote by Jean Baudrillard

“One may justify the existence of men in power in many different ways. Yet power remains a pernicious thing for what justifies it is inexpiable. Fragility, which belongs to the realm of appearances, is to be preferred to the fractal which is merely the quality of a mathematical object. It is exciting to hear one of your fondest ideas formulated in one fell swoop, better than you could have done it yourself. You feel no intellectual jealousy at seeing yourself outstripped in this way. You only feel jealous when you are overtaken by your shadow.”

Quote by Jean Baudrillard

Work

Cool memories

This book is a compilation of personal anecdotes and memories that evoke a sense of nostalgia for the reader, capturing the essence of bygone times and the emotions associated with them. more

Author

Jean Baudrillard
Jean Baudrillard

Jean Baudrillard was a French philosopher known for his critical studies on consumerism, media, and semiotics. His theories have had a profound impact on postmodernism and cultural studies. more

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“Then Kaianan stood staring at them; Darayan and Archibel laughing and mucking around as they leaped over their back-fence home. Envy held her; she wished she had someone close who understood her like they did each other. Maybe Xandou did understand her—but he would never allow her out, nor would Dersji. Kaianan sighed; maybe it was someone she just hadn’t met yet.”

“This heat in the belly which remains after the evisceration and freezing of bodies can be nothing other than the jealousy of the living for the dead. Our jealousy for the object is that of miserable subjects for what has passed living into a perfection which is beyond us. Man's jealousy of woman, that more than sexual heat, that heat of passion, is born of a desire for what has been torn from him and reincarnated elsewhere in the other sex - and is it not indeed diabolical? - and which sneers at him from there like the hypostasis of the best of himself. Consoling signs. After the fear of victory, which causes the sportsman to fail at the last gasp, after the fear of power - the fear of wielding power - which even the political class shows many signs of, falling in this way into the loneliness of the long-distance runner, we now see science beset by weakness. Reaching the end of the course, this flat-footed idol is also frightened of its shadow.”

“And Greg,' she said, turning her face up to him, 'it's stupid and childish, and utterly ridiculous for you to be jealous of my mother! You've never seen that I can love anyone else without detracting from my love for you. I suppose because you had no family of your own, you can't see that love isn't like that - it has no limits, it just stretches to accommodate more people all the time, and it doesn't become thinner in the process, only deeper and richer...”

“We are always distant in some way, in some particular, from our sorrow. Only hysteria can create total sorrow, but even this, once it is articulated, is no longer so bad as it was before. For the same reason, absolute happiness is impossible and those who speak of it must be regarded as hypocrites. In the wretchedness of his New Delhi room, weeping hot tears (no doubt more for the personal offence he had suffered than for the lost object), S . still finds the strength to photograph his telephone. Since it is the main virtue of the sexual act to raise the body to that exceptional state which is nudity, it is superfluous if that nudity has now become something obvious. That is why love is only beautiful with a shy body, a sex which makes a play of its shyness. That is why it is only really beautiful the first time. A negative judgement gives you more satisfaction than praise, provided it smacks of jealousy.”