Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is International Dean of Birkbeck School of Humanities, University of London, Visiting Professor at New York University, and Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Philosophy, University of Ljubljana.
Zizek was born into a middle-class family in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Yugoslavia. (14) His father, Joze Žižek, was an economist and civil servant from the Prekmulje region in eastern Slovenia. His mother, Vesna, a native of Gorizia Mountain on the Slovenian coast, worked as an accountant for a state-owned company. His parents are both atheists. Žižek is the editor of the “Discrimination” series from Northwestern University Press. The works published in this series “not only involve philosophy, but will also intervene in the levels of ideological criticism, politics and art theory.”
Words are never “the only words”; they are important because they define the contours of what we can do. Slavoj Zizek
I secretly think reality exists so we can speculate about it. Slavoj Zizek
Communism will prevail. Slavoj Zizek
When I truly love someone, I can only express it by making offensive, vulgar comments. Slavoj Zizek
In addition to the fiction of reality, there is also the reality of fiction. Slavoj Zizek
Liberal democracy – as you know, in the past we said we wanted socialism with a human face. Today’s left effectively provides global capitalism with a human face, more tolerance, more rights, and more. So the question is, is this enough? I’m still a Marxist here: I don’t think so. Slavoj Zizek
Love is like a great misfortune, a terrible parasite, a permanent emergency that destroys all small joys. Slavoj Zizek
True power doesn’t require arrogance, a long beard, and a growling voice. True power strangles you with ribbons, charm and wit. Slavoj Zizek
The enemy is the person whose story you haven’t heard. Slavoj Zizek
Movies are the ultimate perverted art. It doesn’t give you what you want – it tells you how to desire it. Slavoj Zizek
We feel free because we lack the language to express our unfreedom. Slavoj Zizek
One of the measures of true love is that you can insult the other person. Slavoj Zizek
Ultimately, we hear things because we don’t see everything. Slavoj Zizek
I agree with Sophocles: the greatest good fortune is not birth – but, as the joke goes on, few succeed. Slavoj Zizek
Without the oppression of communism, I am absolutely convinced that I would be the stupid local philosophy professor in Ljubljana right now. Slavoj Zizek
As a philosopher, my intuition is that we are effectively approaching a polycentric world, which means we need to ask new, uncomfortable questions for the traditional left. Slavoj Zizek
Like love, ideologies are blind, even if the people caught up in them are not. Slavoj Zizek
If you have a reason to love someone, then you don’t love them. Slavoj Zizek
For us, the question is not whether our desires are satisfied. The problem is how do we know what we want. Slavoj Zizek
Human nature is good, but 99% of people are boring idiots. Slavoj Zizek
Political problems are too serious to be left to politicians alone. Slavoj Zizek
The true test of morality is not only the readiness to save the victim but, perhaps more importantly, the ruthless dedication to destroying those who victimized them. Slavoj Zizek
Money is precisely an object whose status depends on how we “think” about it: if people no longer see the piece of metal as money, if they no longer “believe” it is money, then it ceases to be money. Slavoj Zizek
If Stalin gives you a piece of love advice, it has to work. Slavoj Zizek
Does everything have to exist for a good reason? Or does something happen out of nowhere? Slavoj Zizek
Individuals in existential panic are ideal candidates for the introduction of authoritarian power. Slavoj Zizek
However, the Christian motto “All men are brothers” also means that those who do not accept brotherhood are not human. Slavoj Zizek
Art is not only a heightened process that provides sensory pleasure but is also a medium of truth. Slavoj Zizek
Take a little poison now and then: it will bring sweet dreams. Finally, a lot of poison was taken in order to have a pleasant death. Slavoj Zizek
