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Quote by Jacques Ellul

“The will of the world is always a will to death, a will to suicide. We must not accept this suicide, and we must so act that it cannot take place.”

Quote by Jacques Ellul

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Jacques Ellul
Jacques Ellul

Jacques Ellul (January 6, 1912 - May 19, 1994) was a prominent French philosopher known for his work in the fields of technological philosophy, sociology, and Christian theology. His research focused on the profound reflections on the impact of technology and society on modern life. more

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“In point of fact there are a certain number of values and of forces which are of decisive importance in our world civilization: the primacy of production, the continual growth of the power of the State and the formation of the National State, the autonomous development of technics, etc. These, among others - far more than the ownership of the means of production or any totalitarian doctrine - are the constitutive elements of the modern world. So long as these elements continue to be taken for granted, the world is standing still.”

WorldMeanLongStillsStatesFactsCertainValuesForceGrowthNumbersTakenModernDevelopmentCivilizationElementsStandingImportanceProductionsDoctrineGrantedEtcOur WorldOwnershipModern WorldFormationTaken For GrantedAutonomousStanding StillPrimacyContinual Growth
Author:Jacques Ellul
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“People think that they have no right to judge a fact - all they have to do is to accept it. Thus from the moment that technics, the State, or production, are facts, we must worship them as facts, and we must try to adapt ourselves to them. This is the very heart of modern religion, the religion of the established fact, the religion on which depend the lesser religions of the dollar, race, or the proletariat, which are only expressions of the great modern divinity, the Moloch of fact.”

PeopleThinkingTryingHeartStatesMomentsFactsRaceAcceptingModernExpressionJudgingDependsWorshipDollarsProductionsDivinityProletariat
Author:Jacques Ellul
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“There is a limited elite that understands the secrets of their own techniques, but not necessarily of all techniques. These men are close to the seat of modern governmental power. The state is no longer founded on the 'average citizen', but on the ability and knowledge of this elite. The average man is altogether unable to penetrate technical secrets or governmental organization and consequently can exert no influence at all on the state.”

MenStatesAbilitySecretInfluenceModernCitizensOrganizationAverageTechniqueSeatsElitesPenetrateAverage ManMental Power
Author:Jacques Ellul
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“The individual, by means of the discipline imposed on him by sport, not only plays and finds relaxation from the various compulsions to which he is subjected, but without knowing it trains himself for new compulsions. ... Training in sports makes of the individual an efficient piece of apparatus which is henceforth unacquainted with anything but the harsh joys of exploiting his body and winning.”

MeanPlayBodyJoyWinningIndividualSportsKnowingPiecesDisciplineTrainingTrainVariousEfficientHarshRelaxationCompulsion
Author:Jacques Ellul
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“Sport carries on without deviation the mechanical tradition of furnishing relief and distraction to the worker after he has finished his work proper so that he is at no time independent of one technique or another. In sport the citizen of the technical society finds the same spirit, criteria, morality, actions and objectives in short, all the technical laws and customs which he encounters in office or factory.”

ActionLawSpiritSportsCitizensMoralityOfficeTraditionIndependentWorkersFinishedTechniqueObjectivesEncountersReliefCarrieCustomsDistractionFactoriesCriteriaDeviation
Author:Jacques Ellul
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