"If repression has indeed been the fundamental link between power, knowledge, and sexuality since the classical age, it stands to reason that we will not be able to free ourselves from it except at a considerable cost."

Power

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Power as articulated by Michel Foucault. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Power provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

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About Michel Foucault

Paul-Michel Foucault, known as Michel Foucault, was a French philosopher, literary critic, and historian of ideas who analyzed the relationships between power, knowledge, and liberty, and how they are used as a form of social control through institutions. Sometimes called a structuralist or postmodernist, he rejected these labels and sought to critique authority without limiting himself. His thought has influenced academics in many areas of study, including anthropology, communication studies, criminology, cultural studies, feminism, literary theory, psychology, and sociology. His arguments against homophobia, racial prejudice, and other ideological doctrines have also shaped scholarship on critical theory and Marxism.

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More by Michel Foucault

"The strategic adversary is fascism... the fascism in us all, in our heads and in our everyday behavior, the fascism that causes us to love power, to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits us."

— Michel Foucault
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"Justice must always question itself, just as society can exist only by means of the work it does on itself and on its institutions."

— Michel Foucault
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"What strikes me is the fact that in our society, art has become something which is only related to objects, and not to individuals, or to life."

— Michel Foucault
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"Freedom of conscience entails more dangers than authority and despotism."

— Michel Foucault
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More about Power

"The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire the size of your dream and how you handle disappointment along the way."

— Robert Kiyosaki
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"I played for Almendares in Cuba. Guess who was trying out for the team? Castro. Fidel Castro, as a pitcher. He could throw pretty hard, but he was wild. He didn't have any control."

— Monte Irvin
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"My dad is still Christian Scientist. My mom's not, and I'm not. But I believe in God, and that there's a higher power and an intelligence that's bigger than us and that we can rely on. It's not just us, thinking we are the ones in control of everything. That idea gives me support."

— Ellen DeGeneres
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"I very much want to do things my way, and I want to control the result."

— Hiam Abbass
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