Father of Deconstructivism, Jacques Derrida is surely the most controversial and influential philosopher and writer of the twentieth century . Born in Algeria in 1930, he went into exile in Paris to begin his academic studies.

This author revolutionized all the bases of structuralism and western grammatical architecture, giving rise to various neologisms and terminologies that would bring him worldwide recognition.

Derrida was also an academic and political activist, opposed to any kind of war and positioned in favour of human rights (he himself had to go into exile because of his status as a Sephardic Jew) and made notorious appearances against the Vietnam War and the Iraq War in 2003.

Phrases of Jacques Derrida for reflection

In this article, we will give you some guidance on the Algerian author’s thinking with some of his most famous phrases.

1. Politics is the dirty game of discrimination between friends and enemies

This is how the author described his view of politics. He lived in his own flesh that discrimination.

2. The translation itself is writing. It is productive writing inspired by the original text

For Derrida, the translation was not to copy literally into another language, but to enrich the original text.

3. We must forget the Manichean logic of truth and falsehood, and focus on the intentionality of those who lie

This phrase represented a conceptual revolution between the art of the lie and the goodness of the truth.

4. Increasingly, the uniqueness of the other who is being challenged is being betrayed

It denounced the interpretation and manipulation of people when analyzing their ideas.

5. I have verified that frontal criticism always ends up being appropriate because of the discourse that it is intended to combat

Sometimes people are this incoherent and cynical, criticizing what we often defend.

6. The method is a technique, a procedure to obtain control of the path and make it viable

Every structure needs some guidelines and directives to follow, if it wants to be well understood.

7. Each book is a pedagogy destined to form its reader

Books are not only entertainment, but also a way to learn.

8. The question of architecture is in fact the problem of place, of taking place in space

Space is limited and architecture is the technique to organize and redistribute it.

9. We know that the political space is that of the lie par excellence

Derrida always saw politics as a ruthless tool of manipulation and as contrary to the truth.

10. Deconstruction is not only the technique of a “disrupted construction”, since it conceives the idea of construction

This is how the author defended his terminology, which was misunderstood by many because of its critical spirit.

11. If the translator does not copy or return an original, it is because it survives and is transformed

A reflection on literature.

12. What is relevant in the lie is never its content, but the purpose of the liar

Jacques always emphasized the ultimate goal of the lie.

13. Lying is not something that is opposed to the truth, but is situated in its purpose

Once again, with this phrase he justified the use of the lie according to its intention.

14. The translation will actually be a moment of his own growth, he will complete himself in it by growing

The technique of translation is not only based on literally copying the original into another language, it is also used to enrich it.

15. What is decisive is the damage it causes to the other, without which there is no lie

Derrida was a thinker and analyst of the relationships between one another, and how they are affected.

16. It could be said that there is nothing more architectural and at the same time nothing less architectural than deconstruction

Deconstruction was a controversial and contentious concept . It was not defined in a single way. It sinned from that which it criticized equally.

17. The establishment of a place that had not existed until then and that agrees with what will happen there one day: that is the place

The place as a phenomenon invented by man, and agreed upon at the same time.

18. When the original of a translation claims a complement, it is that it was not originally there without deficiencies, full, complete, total

Often the original texts are poorly translated due to poor linguistic or grammatical expression.

19. The modern political lie no longer hides anything behind it, but is based on what everyone else

Political lies reflect the lies of fellow citizens.

20. Mass productions do not train the readers, but fantastically presuppose an already programmed reader

With this phrase, Jacques Derrida criticized the structure and hierarchy of book publishers as an indoctrinating tool.

21. The way is not a method; this must be made clear

The path to follow is not a method, the technique that follows the path is.

22. Every architectural space, every living space, starts from a premise: that the building is on a path

This is the relationship Jacques makes between the path and the architectural, as a technique to achieve it

23. The difficulty in defining the word deconstruction stems from the fact that all the syntactic articulations that seem to lend themselves to such a definition are also deconstructible

Even the very concept of deconstruction can be easily dismantled and invalidated

24. There is no building without paths leading to it, nor is there any building without interior routes, corridors, stairs, corridors, or doors

Every building has multiple pathways, whether for entry, exit or orientation.

25. Deconstruction is neither an analysis nor a critique, and translation should take this into account

Derrida insisted on the lack of confrontation that his theory intended, and so it was misinterpreted by many followers.

26. It is not enough to say that deconstruction cannot be reduced to a mere methodological instrumentality, to a set of rules

So diffuse and complex was the very definition of the term deconstruction

27. It should also be noted that deconstruction is not even an act or an operation

This is how Derrida tried to define his deconstructivism, as something abstract.

28. The very instance of crisis (decision, choice, judgment, discernment) is one of the essential objects of deconstruction

Once again, the author stressed the critical sense of his thesis

29. The desire for a new place, for galleries, for corridors, for a new way of living, of thinking. It is a promise

The physical place is a set of desires and promises that, until they are fulfilled, are not effective.

30. The places are that desire can recognize itself, in which it can inhabit

As has been said many times, a place is something that is agreed upon and agreed upon by a certain community in order to live together.

31. All deconstruction takes place; it is an event that does not wait for deliberation, the organization of the subject, even of modernity

More than a technique, Derrida referred to deconstruction as a literary event.

32. A community must assume and achieve an architectural thought

Architecture as a social construction technique.

33. There is nothing that is present to itself independently of the other in the constitution of the world

Human interdependence was another of the themes that fascinated the philosopher.

34. I am at war with myself

Derrida was the first to recognize and assume contradictions, and often made self-criticism of himself.

35. I cried when it was time to go back to school soon after I was old enough to be ashamed of such behavior

Jacques Derrida didn’t always like to go to school and learn.

36. I wrote some bad poetry that I have published in North African magazines, but while I was retiring on this reading, it also took the life of a kind of young hooligan

He always maintained an attitude of self-criticism in everything he did, and he recognized that.

37. I dreamed of writing and already models were instructing the dream, a certain language rules

Derrida thus stated that everyone, since we started dreaming, is told how we have to do it.

38. Everything is arranged to be this way, this is what is called culture

Culture and values as something imposed, something we must accept in order to survive.

39. If I am asked what I believe in, I don’t believe in anything

He was often diffuse and uninformed.

40. I do everything possible or acceptable to escape this trap

Jacques was no illusionist. He didn’t do anything that couldn’t be proven or disproved empirically.

41. I never do things just to complicate them, that would be ridiculous

I always had an end to it when it came to analyzing things. Like a path that leads to a certain place.

42. The problem with the media is that they don’t publish things as they are, but rather they shape them to what is politically acceptable

Jacques was also a detractor of the language used by the media, always adapting it to their interests.

43. It doesn’t matter how the picture comes out. It’s the look of the other person that will give it value

The interpretation, even of an image, is purely subjective. It all depends on how you look at it.

44. If a job is threatening, it is that it is good, competent and full of conviction

This was the reaction when one of his works was vetoed and/or strongly criticized.

45. My critics organize a series of obsessive cult of my personality

Some of Derrida’s academic colleagues looked more to him than to his works.

46. All discourse, whether poetic or oracular, carries with it a system of rules that define a methodology

Everything is ready and willing for us to say it in a concrete way.

47. I do not believe in the purity of languages

For this author, languages were a tool of communication, not an identity symbol.

48. My fiercest opponents believe that I am too visible, too alive, and too present in the texts

Sometimes Derrida got on his nerves with his critics, as he dismantled many of his works.

49. No one gets angry with a mathematician or a physicist whom they do not understand. You only get angry when you are insulted in your own language

This is a curiosity that the Algerian author saw and that few of us highlight.

50. We are all mediators, translators

We always interpret what we are told, what we want to say, or what is explained to us.

51. As long as there is a language, generalities will come into play

It was the great criticism Jacques made as a linguist.

52. Who says we were born only once?

He often spelled out phrases that went beyond logic.

53. Some authors are offended with me because they no longer recognize their field, their institution

This explains the behaviour of some colleagues who criticised him so much.

54. I have always had trouble recognizing myself in the institutionalized political language

Perhaps the best time to mention it: Derrida was a politically incorrect man, always running away from what others expected of him.

55. To this day, I still teach without having passed the physical barrier. My stomach, my eyes and my anxiety all play a role. I haven’t left school yet

For Derrida the physical counts too. Apart from an emotional being, he took the physical part very much into account to explain human behavior

56. My years at Ecole Normale were dictatorial. Nothing was left for me to do

It denounces once again how systematic and hierarchical everything is, especially teaching.

57. The boarding school years were a hard time for me. I was always nervous and had all kinds of problems

He was treated unfairly because he was a Jew and because of his Arab origins.

58. What I cannot see of myself, the Other may see

The other is everything else after the “I”, after our own, and we cannot let go of it.

59. Everything I miss about myself, I am able to observe in others

He was always a humanist philosopher, and he had others as his reference when looking for his shortcomings.

60. We should expect the Other to come as justice and if we want to have a chance to negotiate with him, we should do so with justice as our guide

Jacques Derrida was, above all, a just and equitable man.

61. God does not give the law but only gives a meaning to justice

This is how the author interprets the divine commandments

62. Those to whom we are entrusted with power, we have to be part of a responsible justice

Social justice is one of the basic principles for a cohesive society.

63. Philosophy, today, is in serious danger of being forgotten

A phrase that is still valid.