Michel Foucault Quotes

We have disciplinary authority and will use it when appropriate.

Having rules means that sometimes people break them, and that means punishment.

The permissiveness of society must be balanced with authoritativeness.

My job is to persuade people to toe the line and play within the laws of the game.

Reward and punishment are the twin instruments of power in the State; they must not be revealed to anyone.

There will always be a rule. There will be people who break the rules. There will be consequences. We fundamentally think these things will be true for a time. The question becomes, What are the consequences? Who enforces the consequences? What are the worst consequences?

The rules are there for a reason.

Rules that are not stringently upheld are more likely to get broken.

Discipline must be maintained.

Look, that's why there's rules, understand? So that you think before you break 'em.

I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty.

I watch children a great deal; their idea is that rules are always negotiable, whereas you absolutely cannot joke at the airport about your toothpaste, and you cannot rollerblade in Grand Central Station. I keep running up against these things.

In the U.S., you have so many rules, everything's regulated and structured. When you make a mistake, you pay for it -a lot.

I believe in rules. Sure I do. If there weren't any rules, how could you break them?

I was the law and order.

Today there's law and order in everything. You can't beat anybody for nothing. If you do beat anyone, it's got to be for the sake of order.

My mom, she's the strict one. If we did something bad, we'd get a whippin' but nothing too bad.

I follow the roles.

Why have a rule if you're not going to enforce it?

Too often, people equate discipline with cursing. When you go to Catholic school, the nuns don't curse a word, but you get discipline.

I know what hierarchy and discipline mean. Without those, we will never have order and progress.

Everybody knows if you have the rules, you need to follow the rules and do exactly what you need to do.

Obviously, flagrant things have to be called. There are rules. You have got to play to the rules, no question.

A portion of the multitude must ever be coerced.

People only see permissiveness in the sense of having more.