I Love Language As I Love Life

There Is A Future Which Is Predictable, Programmed, Scheduled, Foreseeable. But There Is A Future, L'avenir (to Come) Which Refers To Someone Who Comes Whose Arrival Is Totally Unexpected. For Me, That Is The Real Future. That Which Is Totally Unpredictable. The Other Who Comes Without My Being Able To Anticipate Their Arrival. So If There Is A Real Future, Beyond The Other Known Future, It Is L'avenir In That It Is The Coming Of The Other When I Am Completely Unable To Foresee Their Arrival.

Certain Readers Resented Me When They Could No Longer Recognize Their Territory, Their Institution.

These Years Of The Ecole Normale Were An Ordeal. Nothing Was Handed To Me On The First Try.

If You Read Philosophical Texts Of The Tradition, You'll Notice They Almost Never Said 'i,' And Didn't Speak In The First Person. From Aristotle To Heidegger, They Try To Consider Their Own Lives As Something Marginal Or Accidental. What Was Essential Was Their Teaching And Their Thinking. Biography Is Something Empirical And Outside, And Is Considered An Accident That Isn't Necessarily Or Essentially Linked To The Philosophical Activity Or System.

Whatever Precautions You Take So The Photograph Will Look Like This Or That, There Comes A Moment When The Photograph Surprises You. It Is The Other's Gaze That Wins Out And Decides.