Michel Foucault Quotes

The control of information is something the elite always does, particularly in a despotic form of government. Information, knowledge, is power. If you can control information, you can control people.

We all live under some repression; we have to, it's part of the deal.

Dictators are as scared of books as they are of cannon.

The powers that be understand that sexual freedom or liberation with any kind of joy means they are losing control.

The strategic adversary is fascism... the fascism in us all, in our heads and in our everyday behavior, the fascism that causes us to love power, to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits us.

The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.

What we really need to be understanding is that all of these things matter and they all stem from the fact that certain people live with power and authority and they want to maintain it.

The oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines, are fearful of freedom.

The more dependent you are, the more ignorant you must be, and that's how they want you.

The use of force to liberate people is very different from the use of force to suppress or control them, or even to defeat them.

The reactionaries are in possession of force, in not only the army and police, but in the press and schools.

Many people say that government is necessary because some men cannot be trusted to look after themselves, but anarchists say that government is harmful because no men can be trusted to look after anyone else.

Those who fear men like laws.

Anticipatory obedience teaches authorities what is possible and accelerates unfreedom.

The enemies of a people are those who keep them in ignorance.

All in all you're just another brick in the wall

One of the best ways of enslaving a people is to keep them from education.

Next to enjoying ourselves, the next greatest pleasure consists in preventing others from enjoying themselves, or, more generally, in the acquisition of power.

It is hard for power to enjoy or incorporate humour and satire in its system of control.

America is a knowledge-based society, where information counts as much as material resources. Therefore those with the power to define what qualifies as knowledge - to determine what are the accepted facts - wield the greatest social and political power.

Under the rule of a repressive whole, liberty can be made into a powerful instrument of domination.

I call the discourse of power any discourse that engenders blame, hence guilt, in its recipient.

Fear of death has been the greatest ally of tyranny past and present.

Secrecy is the freedom tyrants dream of.

Conquerors never, never conquer a nation to bring freedom. They brought control.