Writers, you know, are the beggars of Western society.

Poetry, whatever the manifest content of the poem, is always a violation of the rationalism and morality of bourgeois society.

As it defines itself, every society defines other societies. That definition almost always takes the form of a condemnation: the 'other' is the barbarian.

The modern tradition is the tradition of revolt. The French Revolution is still our model today: history is violent change, and this change goes by the name of progress. I do not know whether these notions really apply to art.

Art is an invention of aesthetics, which in turn is an invention of philosophers... What we call art is a game.

The relations between rhetoric and ethics are disturbing: the ease with which language can be twisted is worrisome, and the fact that our minds accept these perverse games so docilely is no less cause for concern.