Skip to content

The most successful ideological effects are those which have no need of words, and ask no more than complicitous silence

— Pierre Bourdieu Equisse d'une Théorie de la Pratique (1977)

Another quote →

Topics

Silence

More quotes by Pierre Bourdieu

The mind is a metaphor of the world of objects which is itself but an endless circle of mutually reflecting metaphors.

Equisse d'une Théorie de la Pratique (1977)

Television enjoys a de facto monopoly on what goes into the heads of a significant part of the population and what they think.

I often say that sociology is a martial art, a means of self-defense. Basically, you use it to defend yourself, without having the right to use it for unfair attacks.

The point of my work is to show that culture and education aren't simply hobbies or minor influences.

If the sociologist has a role, it is probably more to furnish weapons than to give lessons.

All Pierre Bourdieu quotes →

You may also like

To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox New Thought Pastels (1913)

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.

George Eliot

There are times when good words are to be left unsaid out of esteem for silence.

Benedict of Nursia

I think television has betrayed the meaning of democratic speech, adding visual chaos to the confusion of voices. What role does silence have in all this noise?

Federico Fellini I'm a Born Liar (2003)

Attribution

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