Michel Foucault Quotes

I try not to be overly analytical.

It is a fatal fault to reason whilst observing, though so necessary beforehand and so useful afterwards.

I'm not much of an analyzer or a psychologist.

Thought must be divided against itself before it can come to any knowledge of itself.

You cannot watch yourself dispassionately.

I will not become analytical about my work.

You have to attempt to be objective about yourself.

The unexamined life is not worth living.

I think it's important for one to take a certain distance from oneself.

I really like watching myself a lot because it gives me an opportunity to see it from outside the flesh, and when I view it like that, I can be a lot more cynical and see the things that need to be attacked.

I think I tend to live in sort of a meta state of existence where I'm always analyzing and analyzing whatever I'm going through at any given moment, and a lot of times I'll reflect back on and go, 'Oh look at that - if I acted this way when that happened, I might not have thought of that that way.'

I was always an outsider, always standing outside, observing and trying to figure things out. Which is exactly what you need to do as a writer, I suppose.

The examined life is no picnic.

I question everything I do.

The one thing I've tried to do is be insightful.

I think my narrative is actually pretty interesting if I step back from it and don't engage too much in it, personally or emotionally.

For me, my greatest weakness is also my greatest strength: I'm a complete overthinker about everything.

I have always been very interested in thinking deeply about things. I do this a lot.

It doesn't matter how smart you are unless you stop and think.

A matter that becomes clear ceases to concern us.--What was that god thinking who counseled, "Know thyself!" Did he perhaps mean,"Cease to concern yourself! Become objective!"--And Socrates?--And "scientific men"?

My personal feeling is that people need to be careful not to start over-analyzing and taking things apart and trying to be critical.

Socrates worked towards making people question themselves. He like to provoke self-interrogation but wasn't particularly interested in the answers that emerged; he just like to set off the thought process.

...you have to leave the island in order to see the island, that we can't see ourselves unless we become free of ourselves, Unless we escape from ourselves you mean, No, that's not the same thing.

Self-criticism, like self-administered brain surgery, is perhaps not a good idea. Can the 'self' see the 'self' with any objectivity?

Think about these once in awhile, and watch your answers change.