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Jacques Ellul Quotes

1912–1994 France

Jacques Ellul (6 January 1912 – 19 May 1994) was a French philosopher, law professor, sociologist, lay theologian, and Christian anarchist.

France
Academics
Anarchists
Educators
Philosophers

Also known as: Ellul, The Technological Society

Random Jacques Ellul quote

89 quotes

We can denounce not merely the abuses of power but power itself.

Anarchy and Christianity (1988)

This movement is invading the whole intellectual domain and also that of conscience.

Ce que je crois (1987)

I cannot think that choices of this kind are unimportant.

Ce que je crois (1987)

The aim of modern propaganda is no longer to modify ideas, but to provoke action.

Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes (1962)

Urban civilization is warring civilization.

The Meaning of the City (1951)

Cain has built a city. For God's Eden he substitutes his own, for the goal given to his life by God, he substitutes a goal chosen by himself.

The Meaning of the City (1951)

The invasion of technique desacralizes the world in which man is called upon to live. For technique nothing is sacred, there is no mystery, no taboo.

The Technological Society (1964)

In the midst of increasing mechanization and technological organization, propaganda is simply the means used to prevent these things from being felt as too oppressive and to persuade man to submit with good grace.

Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes (1962)

When we become conscious of that which determines our life we attain the highest degree of freedom.

The Betrayal by Technology (1993)

The exousia of political power … is a rebel exousia, an angel in revolt against God.

The Subversion of Christianity (1984)

Man's power is first of all the result of hardening his heart against God: man affirms that he is strong, conquers the world, and builds cities.

The Meaning of the City (1951)

All national rulers, no matter what the nation or the political regime, lord it over their subjects. There can be no political power without tyranny.

Anarchy and Christianity (1988)

To talk about belief is to inquire at the same time into its validity or truth. It is to enter into a critical study that is not without danger.

What I Believe (1987)

It seems to me that the free man, i.e., the man freed in Christ, ought to take part in all movements that aim at human freedom.

The Ethics of Freedom (1973)

It is impossible for the state or society or an institution to be Christian. Since being Christian presupposes an act of faith, it is plainly impossible for an abstraction like the state.

Anarchy and Christianity (1988)

“Everything, right now” is the notion that comes from the presence of images, which in effect get us used to seeing all in a single glance.

The Humiliation of the Word (1981)

Our civilization is first and foremost a civilization of means; in the reality of modern life, the means, it would seem, are more important than the ends.

The Technological Society (1954)

On the other hand, it seems to me that an anarchist attitude is the only one that is sufficiently radical in the face of a general statist system.

The Ethics of Freedom (1973)

The civic and technological good will and the enthusiasm for the right social myths — both created by propaganda — will finally have solved the problem of man.

Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes (1962)

Freedom is completely without meaning unless it is related to necessity, unless it represents victory over necessity.

The Technological Society (1954)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Jacques Ellul (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.