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To subdue destruction is one of the most important affirmations of which we are capable in this world. It is the affirmation of this life, bound up with yours, and with the realm of the living: an affirmation caught up with a potential for destruction and its countervailing force.

— Judith Butler The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind (2020)

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More quotes by Judith Butler

Nonviolence is not an absolute principle, but an open-ended struggle with violence and its countervailing forces.

The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind (2020)

Lives matter in the sense that they assume physical form within the sphere of appearance; lives matter because they are to be valued equally.

The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind (2020)

We must fight those who are committed to destruction, without replicating their destructiveness. Understanding how to fight in this way is the task and the bind of a nonviolent ethics and politics.

The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind (2020)

Nonviolence does not necessarily emerge from a pacific or calm part of the soul. Very often it is an expression of rage, indignation, and aggression.

The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind (2020)

Perhaps the promise of phallus is always dissatisfying in some way.

The Lesbian Phallus and the Morphological Imaginary (1993)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Judith Butler (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.