--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The main interest in life and work is to…" description: "\"“The main interest in life and work is to become someone else that you were not in the beginning’ (‘Truth, Power, Self’, 9). Foucault”\" — Gary Gutting" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c05/gary-gutting-62121_foucault_the-main-interest-in-life-and-work-is-to_313216.jpg" --- # The main interest in life and work is to become someone… ![“The main interest in life and work is to become someone else that you were not in the beginning’ (‘Truth, Power, Self’, 9). Foucault” quote by Gary Gutting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c05/gary-gutting-62121_foucault_the-main-interest-in-life-and-work-is-to_313216.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c05/gary-gutting-62121_foucault_the-main-interest-in-life-and-work-is-to_313216.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c05/gary-gutting-62121_foucault_the-main-interest-in-life-and-work-is-to_313216.jpg) > ““The main interest in life and work is to become someone else that you were not in the beginning’ (‘Truth, Power, Self’, 9). Foucault”” [Gary Gutting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-gutting/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The core idea is that personal growth involves transforming into a new self, not merely improving the existing one. **In simple terms:** Become a new version of yourself. Key Takeaway Embrace change, aim beyond your starting self. Themes identity self‑development transformation Mood reflective inspirational Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - career shift - personal reinvention - creative projects - educational pursuits Key Concepts philosophy existentialism self‑construction Questions to Reflect On - What aspects of yourself do you wish to leave behind? - How can you safely explore a new identity? A Different Perspective Change can be destabilizing and may clash with societal expectations. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/foucault/) [Identity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/identity/) [Interest in life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interest-in-life/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-work/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [I don't feel that it is necessary to know exactly what I am. The main interest in life and work is to become someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/i-don-t-feel-that-it-is-necessary-to-know-exactly-what-i-am-the-main-3/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [The kind of work that should be the main part of life is the kind of work you would want to do if you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-kind-of-work-that-should-be-the-main-part-of-life-is-the-kind-of/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [A man's prime interest in life must be his work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-olivier/a-man-s-prime-interest-in-life-must-be-his-work/) [Laurence Olivier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-olivier/) > [“Putting the potential for damage into someone else's hands is scary. I have to have control, even if it is the power to self-destruct.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samantha-schutz/putting-the-potential-for-damage-into-someone-else-s-hands-is-scary-i/) [Samantha Schutz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samantha-schutz/) > [“Pay yourself first: the power of self-discipline If”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-t-kiyosaki/pay-yourself-first-the-power-of-self-discipline-if/) [Robert T. Kiyosaki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-t-kiyosaki/) > [If any female feels she need anything beyond herself to legitimate and validate her existence, she is already giving away her power to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bell-hooks/if-any-female-feels-she-need-anything-beyond-herself-to-legitimate/) [Bell Hooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bell-hooks/) > [Cultivate within yourselves the mighty power of self-discipline.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-b-hinckley/cultivate-within-yourselves-the-mighty-power-of-self-discipline/) [Gordon B. Hinckley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gordon-b-hinckley/) > [“Sometimes it seems as though my life operating system is frozen. I get stuck, and I know things will not change until I power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debbie-alsdorf/sometimes-it-seems-as-though-my-life-operating-system-is-frozen-i-get/) [Debbie Alsdorf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debbie-alsdorf/) > [Life may be defined to be the power of self-augmentation or assimilation, not of self-nurture; for then a steam-engine over a coal-pit might be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/augustus-william-hare/life-may-be-defined-to-be-the-power-of-self-augmentation-or/) [Augustus William Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/augustus-william-hare/) > [“Be aware of the power of self awareness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alin-sav/be-aware-of-the-power-of-self-awareness/) [Alin Sav](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alin-sav/) > [ I do not want to give my power, my self-esteem, or my autonomy, to any person, place, or thing outside myself. \[...\] The only… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashley-judd/i-do-not-want-to-give-my-power-my-self-esteem-or-my-autonomy-to-any/) [Ashley Judd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashley-judd/) > [To assign unanswered letters their proper weight, to free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves--there lies the great,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-assign-unanswered-letters-their-proper-weight-to-free-us-from-the/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [What we misunderstand as a lack of personal power or self discipline is nothing but a lack of real desire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/senoraroy/what-we-misunderstand-as-a-lack-of-personal-power-or-self-discipline/) Senoraroy > [Power is the strongest drug we can feed on. Power over the self is strengthening. The need for power over others is an addiction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruben-papian/power-is-the-strongest-drug-we-can-feed-on-power-over-the-self-is/) [Ruben Papian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruben-papian/) > [Truly, the greatest power you have in this world is the power of your own self-transformation. It starts with the one in the mirror.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melchor-lim/truly-the-greatest-power-you-have-in-this-world-is-the-power-of-your/) [Melchor Lim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melchor-lim/) ## More by Gary Gutting > [Teaching Plato in Palestine shows how philosophical thinking can illuminate important topics-in particular, the problem of finding ways to engage people with opposed ideologies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-gutting/teaching-plato-in-palestine-shows-how-philosophical-thinking-can/) [Gary Gutting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-gutting/) > [Leisure, not work, should be our primary goal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-gutting/leisure-not-work-should-be-our-primary-goal/) [Gary Gutting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-gutting/) > [What is an intellectual? In general, someone seriously devoted to what used to be called the “life of the mind”: thinking pursued not instrumentally,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-gutting/what-is-an-intellectual-in-general-someone-seriously-devoted-to-what/) [Gary Gutting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-gutting/) > [Good politicians need not be intellectuals, but they should have intellectual lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-gutting/good-politicians-need-not-be-intellectuals-but-they-should-have/) [Gary Gutting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-gutting/) [Explore all 5 Gary Gutting quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-gutting/) ## More Foucault quotes > [“I rehearsed Foucault's argument that the presence of madness on our doorstep is good for us, for it reminds us the life we live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-greenberg/i-rehearsed-foucault-s-argument-that-the-presence-of-madness-on-our/) [Michael Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-greenberg/) > [“Wherever you put it, Foucault’s Pendulum swings from a motionless point while the earth rotates beneath it. 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I read Being and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-gira/i-never-could-read-foucault-i-find-philosophy-tedious-all-of-my/) [Michael Gira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-gira/) > [There is a constant rush to judgment in Foucault. He is filled with specious generalizations, false categories, distortions, fudging, pretenses to knowledge in areas…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/camille-paglia/there-is-a-constant-rush-to-judgment-in-foucault-he-is-filled-with/) [Camille Paglia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/camille-paglia/) > [“The velocity of light is one of the most important of the fundamental constants of Nature. Its measurement by Foucault and Fizeau gave as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-a-michelson/the-velocity-of-light-is-one-of-the-most-important-of-the-fundamental/) A.A. Michelson > [It's time for a recovery and reassessment of North American thinkers. Marshall McLuhan, Leslie Fiedler and Norman O. Brown are the linked triad I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/camille-paglia/it-s-time-for-a-recovery-and-reassessment-of-north-american-thinkers/) [Camille Paglia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/camille-paglia/) > [Foucault's genius is to go down to the little dramas, dress them in facts hardly anyone else has noticed, and turn these stage settings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-hacking/foucault-s-genius-is-to-go-down-to-the-little-dramas-dress-them-in/) [Ian Hacking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-hacking/) > [ “Calling sex by its name thereafter \[the 17th c.\] became more difficult and more costly. As if in order to gain mastery of it… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/foucault-michel/calling-sex-by-its-name-thereafter-the-17th-c-became-more-difficult/) Foucault Michel > [ “\[Foucault's\] criticism is not transcendental, and its goal is not that of making a metaphysics possible: it is genealogical in its design and archaeological… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-rabinow/foucault-s-criticism-is-not-transcendental-and-its-goal-is-not-that/) Paul Rabinow > [“People will be surprised at the eagerness with which we went about pretending to rouse from its slumber a sexuality which every­thing-our discourses, our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/people-will-be-surprised-at-the-eagerness-with-which-we-went-about/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“subjected. In Discipline and Punish Foucault shows that alongside the maturation of the capitalist system of production the scientific location & elucidation of “the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-bernstein/subjected-in-discipline-and-punish-foucault-shows-that-alongside-the/) [Charles Bernstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-bernstein/) > [“The time for argument was over: Foucault wanted to crush an enemy, even though he claimed he loathed this kind of attack, in one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beno-t-peeters/the-time-for-argument-was-over-foucault-wanted-to-crush-an-enemy-even/) [Benoît Peeters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beno-t-peeters/) > [Foucault is the Cagliostro of our time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/camille-paglia/foucault-is-the-cagliostro-of-our-time/) [Camille Paglia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/camille-paglia/) [Browse all 33 Foucault quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/foucault/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The main interest in life and work is to become someone else that you were not in the beginning’ (‘Truth, Power, Self’, 9). 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