--- title: "5 Capitalist Quotes By Slavoj Žižek" description: "5 Capitalist quotes by Slavoj Žižek. Plus more from Slavoj Žižek and more Capitalist sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9b/slavoj-i-ek-1738_accepting_think-about-the-strangeness-of-today-s-s_312880.jpg" --- > [Think about the strangeness of today's situation. Thirty, forty years ago, we were still debating about what the future will be: communist,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/think-about-the-strangeness-of-today-s-situation-thirty-forty-years/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9b/slavoj-i-ek-1738_accepting_think-about-the-strangeness-of-today-s-s_312880.jpg) > [“I am an anti-capitalist because I believe we can improve on it. I believe that we can create the vision I have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/i-am-an-anti-capitalist-because-i-believe-we-can-improve-on-it-i/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33f/slavoj-i-ek-1738_capitalist_i-am-an-anti-capitalist-because-i-believ_1364144.png) > [I am what you might call abstractly anti-capitalist. For instance, I am suspicious of the old leftists who focus all their hatred…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/i-am-what-you-might-call-abstractly-anti-capitalist-for-instance-i-am/) [Slavoj Zizek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a23/slavoj-i-ek-1738_capitalist_i-am-what-you-might-call-abstractly-anti_1657119.jpg) > [“capitalism is for Karatani not a ‘pure’ reign of B, but a triad (or, rather, a Borromean knot) of nation–state–capital: nation as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/capitalism-is-for-karatani-not-a-pure-reign-of-b-but-a-triad-or/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b77/slavoj-i-ek-1738_capitalism_capitalism-is-for-karatani-not-a-pure-re_1887881.jpg) > [“the immigrants who secure rights thanks to the anti-racist anti-colonial struggle might be securing the right to free capitalist enterprise, refusing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/the-immigrants-who-secure-rights-thanks-to-the-anti-racist-anti/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/311/slavoj-i-ek-1738_business_the-immigrants-who-secure-rights-thanks_2931877.png) ## Other authors on Capitalist ## More by Slavoj Žižek > [The ultimate goal of radical politics is gradually to displace the limit of social exclusions, empowering the excluded agents (sexual and ethnic minorities) by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/the-ultimate-goal-of-radical-politics-is-gradually-to-displace-the/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [“In Kant’s description, ethical duty functions like a foreign traumatic intruder that from the outside disturbs the subject’s homeostatic balance, its unbearable pressure forcing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/in-kant-s-description-ethical-duty-functions-like-a-foreign-traumatic/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [I think Kafka was right when he said that for a modern, secular, nonreligious man, state bureaucracy is the only remaining contact with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/i-think-kafka-was-right-when-he-said-that-for-a-modern-secular/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [“The cliche about prison life is that I am actually integrated into it, ruined by it, when my accommodation to it is so overwhelming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/the-cliche-about-prison-life-is-that-i-am-actually-integrated-into-it/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [“In our quest for entertainment and instant gratification, we have become detached from the real world and its problems, contributing to the erosion of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/in-our-quest-for-entertainment-and-instant-gratification-we-have/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [The problem for us is not are our desires satisfied or not. The problem is how do we know what we desire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/the-problem-for-us-is-not-are-our-desires-satisfied-or-not-the/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [“Ultimately,we hear things because we cannot see everything.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/ultimately-we-hear-things-because-we-cannot-see-everything/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [“In contrast to the situation in 1945, the world does not need the US; it is the US that needs the rest of the world”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/in-contrast-to-the-situation-in-1945-the-world-does-not-need-the-us/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [Humanity is OK, but 99% of people are boring idiots.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/humanity-is-ok-but-99-of-people-are-boring-idiots/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [We need useless theory more than ever today.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/we-need-useless-theory-more-than-ever-today/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [Those who were still able to write beautiful melodies were kitsch composers like Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky approaches true art not in his numerous beautiful melodies,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/those-who-were-still-able-to-write-beautiful-melodies-were-kitsch/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [“as in Heinrich Heine’s (a contemporary of Kierkegaard’s) well-known saying that one should value above everything else ‘freedom, equality and crab soup’. ‘Crab soup’…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/as-in-heinrich-heine-s-a-contemporary-of-kierkegaard-s-well-known/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [“The “pursuit of happiness” is such a key element of the “American (ideological) dream” that one tends to forget the contingent origin of this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/the-pursuit-of-happiness-is-such-a-key-element-of-the-american/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [A spectre is haunting Western academia (...), the spectre of the Cartesian subject.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/a-spectre-is-haunting-western-academia-the-spectre-of-the-cartesian/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) > [“...A friend has to be outside my reach, beyond my grasp. And there can be no friendship with someone whom I am not ready…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/a-friend-has-to-be-outside-my-reach-beyond-my-grasp-and-there-can-be/) [Slavoj Žižek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/slavoj-i-ek/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capitalist/slavoj-i-ek/#itemlist", "name": "5 Capitalist Quotes By Slavoj Žižek", "numberOfItems": 5, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Think about the strangeness of today's situation. Thirty, forty years ago, we were still debating about what the future will be: communist, fascist, capitalist, whatever. Today, nobody even debates these issues. We all silently accept global capitalism is here to stay. On the other hand, we are obsessed with cosmic catastrophes: the whole life on earth disintegrating, because of some virus, because of an asteroid hitting the earth, and so on. So the paradox is, that it's much easier to imagine the end of all life on earth than a much more modest radical change in capitalism.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Slavoj Žižek" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/think-about-the-strangeness-of-today-s-situation-thirty-forty-years/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9b/slavoj-i-ek-1738_accepting_think-about-the-strangeness-of-today-s-s_312880.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9b/slavoj-i-ek-1738_accepting_think-about-the-strangeness-of-today-s-s_312880.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9b/slavoj-i-ek-1738_accepting_think-about-the-strangeness-of-today-s-s_312880.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Think about the strangeness of today's situation. 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Good!", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Slavoj Žižek" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/i-am-what-you-might-call-abstractly-anti-capitalist-for-instance-i-am/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a23/slavoj-i-ek-1738_capitalist_i-am-what-you-might-call-abstractly-anti_1657119.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a23/slavoj-i-ek-1738_capitalist_i-am-what-you-might-call-abstractly-anti_1657119.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a23/slavoj-i-ek-1738_capitalist_i-am-what-you-might-call-abstractly-anti_1657119.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I am what you might call abstractly anti-capitalist. 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This right to free enterprise is another way to capital accumulation powered by the post-colonial entrepreneur: it produces ‘unfree labour’ and racialized class relations in the name of challenging the colonial rule of difference […] There is a closet Ayn Randian class position underpinning the anti-racism of hyperbolic anti-colonialists – it is then not difficult to see that the non-modern, radical alterity upon which the anti-colonial is premised now stands for the capitalist universal.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Slavoj Žižek" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/slavoj-i-ek/the-immigrants-who-secure-rights-thanks-to-the-anti-racist-anti/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/311/slavoj-i-ek-1738_business_the-immigrants-who-secure-rights-thanks_2931877.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/311/slavoj-i-ek-1738_business_the-immigrants-who-secure-rights-thanks_2931877.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/311/slavoj-i-ek-1738_business_the-immigrants-who-secure-rights-thanks_2931877.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“the immigrants who secure rights thanks to the anti-racist anti-colonial struggle might be securing the…” — Slavoj Žižek", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capitalist/slavoj-i-ek/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capitalist/slavoj-i-ek/", "name": "Capitalist Quotes by Slavoj Žižek", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capitalist/slavoj-i-ek/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9b/slavoj-i-ek-1738_accepting_think-about-the-strangeness-of-today-s-s_312880.jpg" }, "description": "5 Capitalist quotes by Slavoj Žižek. 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