Why is it better to last than to burn? Roland Barthes More Quotes by Roland Barthes More Quotes From Roland Barthes As a language, Garbo's singularity was of the order of the concept, that of Audrey Hepburn is of the order of the substance; the face of Garbo is an Idea, that of Hepburn, an Event. Roland Barthes eventsorderideas Are not couturiers the poets who, from year to year, from strophe to strophe, write the anthem of the feminine body? Roland Barthes bodywritingyears The politician being interviewed clearly takes a great deal of trouble to imagine an ending to his sentence: and if he stopped short? His entire policy would be jeopardized! Roland Barthes interviewstroublewould-be L'amoureux qui n'oublie pas quelquefois meurt par exce' s, fatigue et tension de me moire (tel Werther). The lover who does not forget sometimes dies from excess, fatigue, and the strain of memory (like Werther). Roland Barthes excessdoememories Fashion postulates an achrony, a time which does not exist; here the past is shameful and the present is constantly "eaten up" by the Fashion being heralded. Roland Barthes fashiondoepast The petit-bourgeois is a man unable to imagine the Other. If he comes face to face with him, he blinds himself, ignores and denies him, or else transforms him into himself. Roland Barthes imaginefacesmen Tout ce qui est anachronique est obsce' ne. Everything anachronistic is obscene. Roland Barthes obscene Le langage est une peau: je frotte mon langage contre l'autre. Language is a skin; I rub my language against another language. Roland Barthes languageskins Usually the amateur is defined as an immature state of the artist: someone who cannot — or will not — achieve the mastery of a profession. But in the field of photographic practice, it is the amateur, on the contrary, who is the assumption of the professional: for it is he who stands closer to the (i)noeme(i) of Photography. Roland Barthes photographyartistpractice Literature can no longer be either Mimesis or Mathesis but merely Semiosis, the adventure of what is impossible to language, in a word: Text (it is wrong to say that the notion of 'text' repeats the notion of 'literature': literature represents a finite world, the text figures the infinite of language). Roland Barthes literatureadventureworld In 1850, August Salzmann photographed, near Jerusalem, the road to Beith-Lehem (as it was spelled at the time): nothing but stony ground, olive trees; but three tenses dizzy my consciousness: my present, the time of Jesus, and that of the photographer, all this under the instance of 'reality' - and no longer through the elaborations of the text, whether fictional or poetic, which itself is never credible down to the root. Roland Barthes augustrealityjesus For the theatre one needs long arms; it is better to have them too long than too short. An artiste with short arms can never, never make a fine gesture. Roland Barthes theatrelongneeds One day, quite some time ago, I happened on a photograph of Napoleon’s youngest brother, Jerome, taken in 1852. And I realized then, with an amazement I have not been able to lessen since: ‘I am looking at eyes that looked at the Emperor.’ Sometimes I would mention this amazement, but since no one seemed to share it, nor even to understand it (life consists of these little touches of solitude), I forgot about it. Roland Barthes eyetakenbrother Language is neither reactionary nor progressive; it is quite simply fascist; for fascism does not prevent speech, it compels speech. Roland Barthes speechlanguagedoe Today there is no symbolic compensation for old age, no recognition of a specific value: wisdom, perceptiveness, experience, vision. Roland Barthes visionagetoday To dope the racer is as criminal, as sacrilegious, as trying to imitate God; it is stealing from God the privilege of the spark. Roland Barthes dopetryingsports Take the gesture, the action of writing. I have an almost obsessive relation to writing instruments. I often switch from one pen to another just for the pleasure of it. I try out new ones. I have far too many pens - I don't know what to do with all of them! And yet, as soon as I see a new one, I start craving it. I cannot keep myself from buying them. Roland Barthes gestureswritingtrying What the public wants is the image of passion, not passion itself. Roland Barthes publicimagewantspassion The bastard form of mass culture is humiliated repetition... always new books, new programs, new films, news items, but always the same meaning. Roland Barthes meaningnewnewsculture
