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The theory of transparency was set up in reaction to the theory of mental images, of an inner tableu which the perception of an object would leave in us. In imagination our gaze always goes outward, but imagination modifies and neutralizes the gaze: the real world appears in it as it were between parenthesis or quote marks.

— Emmanuel Levinas

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More quotes by Emmanuel Levinas

Fear for the Other, fear for the other man's death is my fear, but is in no way an individual's taking fright.

To ignore the true God is in fact only half an evil; atheism is worth more than the piety bestowed on mythical gods.

A Religion for Adults (1957)

The peace of empires issued from war rests on war. It does not restore to the alienated beings their lost identity.

Totality and Infinity (1961)

The detour to ideality leads to coinciding with oneself, that is, to certainty, which remains the guide and guarantee of the whole spiritual adventure of being.

The ego involved in responsibility is me and no one else, me with whom one whould have liked to pair up a sister soul, from whom one would have substitution and sacrifice.

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Attribution

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