--- title: "8 Addiction Quotes By Cornel West" description: "8 Addiction quotes by Cornel West. Plus more from Cornel West and more Addiction sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e36/cornel-west-708_addiction_this-market-way-of-life-promotes-addicti_412649.jpg" --- > [“This market way of life promotes addictions to stimulation and obsessions with comfort and convenience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/this-market-way-of-life-promotes-addictions-to-stimulation-and/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e36/cornel-west-708_addiction_this-market-way-of-life-promotes-addicti_412649.jpg) > [Never before has the seductive market way of life held such sway in nearly every sphere of American life. This marketing way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/never-before-has-the-seductive-market-way-of-life-held-such-sway-in/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/969/cornel-west-708_addiction_never-before-has-the-seductive-market-wa_424523.jpg) > [Addiction is the dominant form of a culture that suffers from a superficial spectacle and celebrity-connectivity at its center. It's a form…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/addiction-is-the-dominant-form-of-a-culture-that-suffers-from-a/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/682/cornel-west-708_addiction_addiction-is-the-dominant-form-of-a-cult_1044662.jpg) > [Too many young folk have addiction to superficial things and not enough conviction for substantial things like justice, truth and love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/too-many-young-folk-have-addiction-to-superficial-things-and-not/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bc/cornel-west-708_addiction_too-many-young-folk-have-addiction-to-su_1236864.jpg) > [I think in the end, you know, we're just addicted to oil. We've got to overcome that addiction, and we need some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-think-in-the-end-you-know-we-re-just-addicted-to-oil-we-ve-got-to/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bcd/cornel-west-708_accountability_i-think-in-the-end-you-know-we-re-just-a_1317890.jpg) > [It's a spiritual malnutrition tied to a moral constipation, where people have a sense of what's right and what's good. It's just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/it-s-a-spiritual-malnutrition-tied-to-a-moral-constipation-where/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b46/cornel-west-708_addiction_it-s-a-spiritual-malnutrition-tied-to-a_1378511.jpg) > [“..begin by talking about the kind of existentialist chaos that exists in our own lives and our inability to overcome the sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/begin-by-talking-about-the-kind-of-existentialist-chaos-that-exists/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/305/cornel-west-708_addiction_begin-by-talking-about-the-kind-of-exist_2060155.jpg) > [I grew up in traditional black patriarchal culture and there is no doubt that I’m going to take a great many unconscious,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-grew-up-in-traditional-black-patriarchal-culture-and-there-is-no/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab2/cornel-west-708_addiction_i-grew-up-in-traditional-black-patriarch_3116373.jpg) ## Other authors on Addiction - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-gabor-mate-36627.jpg) Gabor Maté 52 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/gabor-mat/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b007/author-david-sheff-27957.jpg) David Sheff 22 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/david-sheff/) - [Chris Prentiss 21 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/chris-prentiss/) - [Lance Dodes 18 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/lance-dodes/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b009/author-elizabeth-gilbert-32532.jpg) Elizabeth Gilbert 17 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/elizabeth-gilbert/) - [Ken Keyes Jr 14 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/ken-keyes-jr/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b021/author-russell-brand-81772.jpg) Russell Brand 13 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/russell-brand/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b003/author-kris-kidd-8322.jpg) Kris Kidd 12 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/kris-kidd/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b008/author-drew-pinsky-30740.jpg) Drew Pinsky 12 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/drew-pinsky/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b024/author-william-s-burroughs-95860.jpg) William S. Burroughs 11 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/william-s-burroughs/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b007/author-chuck-palahniuk-24118.jpg) Chuck Palahniuk 11 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/chuck-palahniuk/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b013/author-john-bradshaw-51026.jpg) John Bradshaw 10 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/john-bradshaw/) ## More by Cornel West > [There has certainly been ugly, right-wing hatred targeting Barack Obama.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/there-has-certainly-been-ugly-right-wing-hatred-targeting-barack-obama/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [What is accurately portrayed is the rich humanity not just of Martin Luther King but of the movement, which was a multiracial movement. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/what-is-accurately-portrayed-is-the-rich-humanity-not-just-of-martin/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [I feel as if I have been blessed to undergo a transformation from 'gangster' to 'redeemed sinner with gangster proclivities.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-feel-as-if-i-have-been-blessed-to-undergo-a-transformation-from/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [“Like King, we need to put on our cemetery clothes and be coffin-ready for the next great democratic battle.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/like-king-we-need-to-put-on-our-cemetery-clothes-and-be-coffin-ready/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [ “You can't really move forward until you look back. \[From Remaking America panel discussion at George Washington University\]” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/you-can-t-really-move-forward-until-you-look-back-from-remaking/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [When we think of globalization we are thinking in part of structures and institutions that have been developed over time and that have allowed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/when-we-think-of-globalization-we-are-thinking-in-part-of-structures/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The challenge artists face today is whether to be an underground, unheard genius, or to dilute their art for the marketplace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-challenge-artists-face-today-is-whether-to-be-an-underground/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The need of black conservatives to gain the respect of their white peers deeply shapes certain elements of their conservatism. In this regard, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-need-of-black-conservatives-to-gain-the-respect-of-their-white/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [For me, musicians are poets. Beethoven describes himself as a poet of tones, just like Coltrane's a poet of tempo.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/for-me-musicians-are-poets-beethoven-describes-himself-as-a-poet-of/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [I don't draw any distinctions between forms of bigotry or forms of ideology that lose sight of the humanity of people. I can't stand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-don-t-draw-any-distinctions-between-forms-of-bigotry-or-forms-of/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Barack Obama has domesticated the left in such a way that we feel as if we have no alternative but him...I refuse to accept…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/barack-obama-has-domesticated-the-left-in-such-a-way-that-we-feel-as/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Larry Summers, I think, he had a long history of arrogance and relative ignorance about poor people's culture and working people's culture and so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/larry-summers-i-think-he-had-a-long-history-of-arrogance-and-relative/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The greatest gift you can give someone is the gift of inspiration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-greatest-gift-you-can-give-someone-is-the-gift-of-inspiration/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [You can see it in terms of the obsession on Wall Street with not just profits but greed, more profit, more profit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/you-can-see-it-in-terms-of-the-obsession-on-wall-street-with-not-just/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Anybody who takes Martin Luther King seriously has got to go beyond the standard understanding of who he was, has to connect those dots.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/anybody-who-takes-martin-luther-king-seriously-has-got-to-go-beyond/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/cornel-west/#itemlist", "name": "8 Addiction Quotes By Cornel West", "numberOfItems": 8, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“This market way of life promotes addictions to stimulation and obsessions with comfort and convenience.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cornel West" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/this-market-way-of-life-promotes-addictions-to-stimulation-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e36/cornel-west-708_addiction_this-market-way-of-life-promotes-addicti_412649.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e36/cornel-west-708_addiction_this-market-way-of-life-promotes-addicti_412649.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e36/cornel-west-708_addiction_this-market-way-of-life-promotes-addicti_412649.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“This market way of life promotes addictions to stimulation and obsessions with comfort and convenience.” — Cornel West", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Never before has the seductive market way of life held such sway in nearly every sphere of American life. This marketing way of life promotes addictions to stimulation and obsessions with comfort and convenience ... centered primarily around bodily pleasures and status rankings. ... The common denominator is a rugged and ragged individualism and rapacious hedonism in quest of a perennial \"high\" in body and mind.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cornel West" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/never-before-has-the-seductive-market-way-of-life-held-such-sway-in/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/969/cornel-west-708_addiction_never-before-has-the-seductive-market-wa_424523.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/969/cornel-west-708_addiction_never-before-has-the-seductive-market-wa_424523.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/969/cornel-west-708_addiction_never-before-has-the-seductive-market-wa_424523.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Never before has the seductive market way of life held such sway in nearly every sphere of American life…” — Cornel West", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Addiction is the dominant form of a culture that suffers from a superficial spectacle and celebrity-connectivity at its center. It's a form of spiritual emptiness.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cornel West" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/addiction-is-the-dominant-form-of-a-culture-that-suffers-from-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/682/cornel-west-708_addiction_addiction-is-the-dominant-form-of-a-cult_1044662.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/682/cornel-west-708_addiction_addiction-is-the-dominant-form-of-a-cult_1044662.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/682/cornel-west-708_addiction_addiction-is-the-dominant-form-of-a-cult_1044662.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Addiction is the dominant form of a culture that suffers from a superficial spectacle and…” — Cornel West", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Too many young folk have addiction to superficial things and not enough conviction for substantial things like justice, truth and love.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cornel West" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/too-many-young-folk-have-addiction-to-superficial-things-and-not/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bc/cornel-west-708_addiction_too-many-young-folk-have-addiction-to-su_1236864.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bc/cornel-west-708_addiction_too-many-young-folk-have-addiction-to-su_1236864.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bc/cornel-west-708_addiction_too-many-young-folk-have-addiction-to-su_1236864.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Too many young folk have addiction to superficial things and not enough conviction for substantial things…” — Cornel West", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I think in the end, you know, we're just addicted to oil. We've got to overcome that addiction, and we need some serious accountability of big oil, because big oil, like so much of big businesses, has just colonized our government, colonized the regulatory agencies so we can't impose any kind of accountability on them.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cornel West" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-think-in-the-end-you-know-we-re-just-addicted-to-oil-we-ve-got-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bcd/cornel-west-708_accountability_i-think-in-the-end-you-know-we-re-just-a_1317890.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bcd/cornel-west-708_accountability_i-think-in-the-end-you-know-we-re-just-a_1317890.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bcd/cornel-west-708_accountability_i-think-in-the-end-you-know-we-re-just-a_1317890.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I think in the end, you know, we're just addicted to oil. 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There's too much obsession with reputation and addiction to narrow conceptions of success.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cornel West" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/it-s-a-spiritual-malnutrition-tied-to-a-moral-constipation-where/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b46/cornel-west-708_addiction_it-s-a-spiritual-malnutrition-tied-to-a_1378511.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b46/cornel-west-708_addiction_it-s-a-spiritual-malnutrition-tied-to-a_1378511.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b46/cornel-west-708_addiction_it-s-a-spiritual-malnutrition-tied-to-a_1378511.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It's a spiritual malnutrition tied to a moral constipation, where people have a sense of what's right and…” — Cornel West", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“..begin by talking about the kind of existentialist chaos that exists in our own lives and our inability to overcome the sense of alienation and frustration we experience when we try to create bonds of intimacy and solidarity with one another. Now part of this frustration is to be understood again in relation to structures and institutions. In the way in which our culture of consumption has promoted an addiction to stimulation - one that puts a premium on packaged and commodified stimulation. The market does this to convince us that our consumption keeps oiling the economy for it to reproduce itself. But the effect of this addiction to stimulation is an undermining, a waning of our ability for qualitatively rich relationships.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cornel West" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/begin-by-talking-about-the-kind-of-existentialist-chaos-that-exists/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/305/cornel-west-708_addiction_begin-by-talking-about-the-kind-of-exist_2060155.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/305/cornel-west-708_addiction_begin-by-talking-about-the-kind-of-exist_2060155.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/305/cornel-west-708_addiction_begin-by-talking-about-the-kind-of-exist_2060155.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“..begin by talking about the kind of existentialist chaos that exists in our own lives and our inability to…” — Cornel West", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I grew up in traditional black patriarchal culture and there is no doubt that I’m going to take a great many unconscious, but present, patriarchal complicities to the grave because it so deeply ensconced in how I look at the world. Therefore, very much like alcoholism, drug addiction, or racism patriarchy is a disease and we are in perennial recovery and relapse. So you have to get up every morning and struggle against it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cornel West" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-grew-up-in-traditional-black-patriarchal-culture-and-there-is-no/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab2/cornel-west-708_addiction_i-grew-up-in-traditional-black-patriarch_3116373.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab2/cornel-west-708_addiction_i-grew-up-in-traditional-black-patriarch_3116373.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab2/cornel-west-708_addiction_i-grew-up-in-traditional-black-patriarch_3116373.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I grew up in traditional black patriarchal culture and there is no doubt that I’m going to take a great many…” — Cornel West", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/cornel-west/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/cornel-west/", "name": "Addiction Quotes by Cornel West", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/cornel-west/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e36/cornel-west-708_addiction_this-market-way-of-life-promotes-addicti_412649.jpg" }, "description": "8 Addiction quotes by Cornel West. 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