--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: But because me and myself, as you no…" description: "\"But because me and myself, as you no doubt are well aware, we are going to die, my relation—and yours too—to the event of this text, which otherwise ne..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07a/jacques-derrida-3948_accomplices_but-because-me-and-myself-as-you-no-doub_3111922.jpg" --- # But because me and myself, as you no doubt are well aware… ![“But because me and myself, as you no doubt are well aware, we are going to die, my relation—and yours too—to the event of this text, which otherwise never quite makes it, our relation is that of a structurally posthumous necessity. Suppose, in that case, that I am not alone in my claim to know the…” quote by Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07a/jacques-derrida-3948_accomplices_but-because-me-and-myself-as-you-no-doub_3111922.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07a/jacques-derrida-3948_accomplices_but-because-me-and-myself-as-you-no-doub_3111922.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/07a/jacques-derrida-3948_accomplices_but-because-me-and-myself-as-you-no-doub_3111922.jpg) > “But because me and myself, as you no doubt are well aware, we are going to die, my relation—and yours too—to the event of this text, which otherwise never quite makes it, our relation is that of a structurally posthumous necessity. Suppose, in that case, that I am not alone in my claim to know the idiomatic code (whose notion itself is already contradictory) of this event. What if somewhere, here or there, there are shares in this non-secret’s secret? Even so the scene would not be changed. The accomplices, as you are once again well aware, are also bound to die.” [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Discusses the inevitability of death and the paradoxical nature of textual meaning after the author's demise **In simple terms:** Death makes texts inherently posthumous, yet their meaning persists Key Takeaway Recognize that meaning continues beyond the author's life Themes philosophical death textuality Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - literary analysis - philosophical debate - teaching literature - writing reflective essays Key Concepts poststructuralism deconstruction semantic paradox Questions to Reflect On - How does death affect the authority of a text? - Can meaning be truly separated from its creator? A Different Perspective May lead to endless reinterpretation, obscuring original intent ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Accomplices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accomplices/) [Cases](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cases/) [Changed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/changed/) [Claims](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/claims/) [Code](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/code/) [Contradictory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contradictory/) [Die Relation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/die-relation-4223087/) [Doubt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doubt/) [Events](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/events/) [Necessity Suppose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/necessity-suppose-5437104/) [Not alone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/not-alone/) [Notion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/notion/) [Posthumous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/posthumous/) [Posthumous Necessity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/posthumous-necessity-5437102/) [Programming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/programming/) [Relation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/relation/) [Scene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scene/) [Secret](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/secret/) [Share](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/share/) [Structurally Posthumous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/structurally-posthumous-5437103/) [Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wells/) [What if](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/what-if/) ## Related quotes > [We are born in relation, we live in relation, we die in relation. There is, literally, no such human place as simply "inside myself."…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carter-heyward/we-are-born-in-relation-we-live-in-relation-we-die-in-relation-there/) [Carter Heyward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carter-heyward/) > [Posthumous men-myself, for example-are not as well understood as timely ones, but we are listened to better. More precisely: we are never understood-hence our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/posthumous-men-myself-for-example-are-not-as-well-understood-as/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [I'm only really alive when I'm writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tennessee-williams/i-m-only-really-alive-when-i-m-writing/) [Tennessee Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tennessee-williams/) > [Posthumous fame is a plant of tardy growth, for our body must be the seed of it; or we may liken it to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/posthumous-fame-is-a-plant-of-tardy-growth-for-our-body-must-be-the/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [“Walsh was too full of his own—how shall I put it?—posthumous importance; too convinced that he should be seen almost as much a victim…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-w-buffa/walsh-was-too-full-of-his-own-how-shall-i-put-it-posthumous/) [D.W. Buffa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-w-buffa/) > [“How long is this posthumous life of mine to last?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-keats/how-long-is-this-posthumous-life-of-mine-to-last/) [John Keats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-keats/) > [And yet, after all, what is posthumous fame? Altogether vanity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/and-yet-after-all-what-is-posthumous-fame-altogether-vanity/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) > [Proust has been dead since 1922, yet the annual appearance of his posthumous works has left him, to the reader, alive. Now there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-flanner/proust-has-been-dead-since-1922-yet-the-annual-appearance-of-his/) [Janet Flanner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-flanner/) > [“Dismemberment, even posthumous, is obscene.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-kimberling/dismemberment-even-posthumous-is-obscene/) [Brian Kimberling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-kimberling/) > [“If you try to write posthumously, however, fashion doesn’t apply. You step off the catwalk, ignoring this season’s trends and resigning yourself to being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-eugenides/if-you-try-to-write-posthumously-however-fashion-doesn-t-apply-you/) [Jeffrey Eugenides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-eugenides/) > [You should die now if you was born so far within posthumous name](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tivea/you-should-die-now-if-you-was-born-so-far-within-posthumous-name/) [Tivea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tivea/) > [Posthumous reputations have little to do with real lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felix-dennis/posthumous-reputations-have-little-to-do-with-real-lives/) [Felix Dennis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/felix-dennis/) > [Posthumous charities are the very essence of selfishness when bequeathed by those who, even alive, would part with nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-caleb-colton/posthumous-charities-are-the-very-essence-of-selfishness-when/) [Charles Caleb Colton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-caleb-colton/) > [Reputation being essentially contemporaneous, is always at the mercy of the Envious and the Ignorant. But Fame, whose very birth is posthumous, and which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-brownell-jameson/reputation-being-essentially-contemporaneous-is-always-at-the-mercy/) [Anna Brownell Jameson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-brownell-jameson/) > [“He pinched the remaining chapters’ pages delicately between his fingers and sighed. He always hated reaching the end of a good book.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-s-e-zapanta/he-pinched-the-remaining-chapters-pages-delicately-between-his/) [David S.E. Zapanta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-s-e-zapanta/) ## More by Jacques Derrida > [“Still less, despite appearances, will it have been a collection of three “essays” whose itinerary it would be time, after the fact, to recognize;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/still-less-despite-appearances-will-it-have-been-a-collection-of/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) > [Cinema plus Psychoanalysis equals the Science of Ghosts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/cinema-plus-psychoanalysis-equals-the-science-of-ghosts/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) > [The traditional statement about language is that it is in itself living, and that writing is the dead part of language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/the-traditional-statement-about-language-is-that-it-is-in-itself/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) > [We are all mediators, translators.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/we-are-all-mediators-translators/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) > [“... and in the homosexual phase which would follow Eurydice's death ... Orpheus sings no more, he writes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/and-in-the-homosexual-phase-which-would-follow-eurydice-s-death/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) > [These critics organize and practice in my case a sort of obsessive personality cult which philosophers should know how to question and above all,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/these-critics-organize-and-practice-in-my-case-a-sort-of-obsessive/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) > [Each time this identity announces itself, someone or something cries: Look out for the trap, youre caught. Take off, get free, disengage yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/each-time-this-identity-announces-itself-someone-or-something-cries/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) > [Within the university... you can study without waiting for any efficient or immediate result. You may search, just for the sake of searching, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/within-the-university-you-can-study-without-waiting-for-any-efficient/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) > [“Here again, the difference between the effective and the virtual, between mourning and its possibility, seems fragile and porous. The anguished apprehension of mourning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/here-again-the-difference-between-the-effective-and-the-virtual/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) > [“The wound can have (should only have) just one proper name. I recognize that I love — you — by this: you leave in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/the-wound-can-have-should-only-have-just-one-proper-name-i-recognize/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) > [Everything is arranged so that it be this way, this is what is called culture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/everything-is-arranged-so-that-it-be-this-way-this-is-what-is-called/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) > [But can one not conceive of a presence, and of a presence to itself of the subject before speech or signs, a presence to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/but-can-one-not-conceive-of-a-presence-and-of-a-presence-to-itself-of/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) > [“It goes without saying that these effects do not suffice to annul the necessity for a “change of terrain.” It also goes without saying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/it-goes-without-saying-that-these-effects-do-not-suffice-to-annul-the/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) > [In philosophy, you have to reckon with the implicit level of an accumulated reserve, and thus with a very great number of relays, with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/in-philosophy-you-have-to-reckon-with-the-implicit-level-of-an/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) > [During the fifteen or twenty years in which I tried - it was not always easy with publishers, newspapers, etc. - to forbid photographs,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/during-the-fifteen-or-twenty-years-in-which-i-tried-it-was-not-always/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) [Explore all 118 Jacques Derrida quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) ## More Accomplices quotes > [It takes little or nothing to undo reputations, the merest trifle makes and remakes them, it is simply a question of finding the best…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jos-saramago/it-takes-little-or-nothing-to-undo-reputations-the-merest-trifle/) [Jose Saramago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jos-saramago/) > [Americans will not allow any Islamic regime to reach the position of governance except if it is an accomplice to the Americans, just like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayman-al-zawahiri/americans-will-not-allow-any-islamic-regime-to-reach-the-position-of/) [Ayman al-Zawahiri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayman-al-zawahiri/) > [And this is the forbidden truth, the unspeakable taboo - that evil is not always repellent but frequently attractive; that it has the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-carol-oates/and-this-is-the-forbidden-truth-the-unspeakable-taboo-that-evil-is/) [Joyce Carol Oates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-carol-oates/) > [Insecurity is miserable. That's the bottom line. We don't need it. We don't want it. And we really can live without it. So what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-moore/insecurity-is-miserable-that-s-the-bottom-line-we-don-t-need-it-we/) [Beth Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-moore/) > [An American professor complained that a crypto-Marxist like me was invited in the USA, and I was denounced by the press in Eastern European…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/an-american-professor-complained-that-a-crypto-marxist-like-me-was/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [And the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake, and its accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion. And whenever those twin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khaled-hosseini/and-the-past-held-only-this-wisdom-that-love-was-a-damaging-mistake-2/) [Khaled Hosseini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khaled-hosseini/) > [You're only a victim once. The next time you're an accomplice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-judd/you-re-only-a-victim-once-the-next-time-you-re-an-accomplice/) [Naomi Judd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-judd/) > [Then one day I realized that a false picture of the German camps had been created and that the problem of the concentration camps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-rassinier/then-one-day-i-realized-that-a-false-picture-of-the-german-camps-had/) [Paul Rassinier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-rassinier/) > [And what is an authentic madman? It is a man who preferred to become mad, in the socially accepted sense of the word, rather…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonin-artaud/and-what-is-an-authentic-madman-it-is-a-man-who-preferred-to-become/) [Antonin Artaud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonin-artaud/) > [The injustice of defeat lies in the fact that its most innocent victims are made to look like heartless accomplices. It is impossible to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-injustice-of-defeat-lies-in-the-fact-that-its-most-innocent/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Simply because, one hand, there are the haters, The hater has power. All we can do is oppose it, or one becomes an accomplice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elie-wiesel/simply-because-one-hand-there-are-the-haters-the-hater-has-power-all/) [Elie Wiesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elie-wiesel/) > [I have never seen more Senators express discontent with their jobs…I think the major cause is that, deep down in our hearts, we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-c-danforth/i-have-never-seen-more-senators-express-discontent-with-their-jobs-i/) [John C. Danforth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-c-danforth/) > [You give up the world line by line. Stoically. And then one day you realize that your courage is farcical. It doesn't mean anything.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/you-give-up-the-world-line-by-line-stoically-and-then-one-day-you/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [We become accomplices in evil every time we seek to soothe the unslakable appetites of the crime family that sits in Pyongyang.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/we-become-accomplices-in-evil-every-time-we-seek-to-soothe-the/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [When struck on one cheek to turn the other, is really joining a conspiracy to secure the triumph of brutality. To agree not to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/when-struck-on-one-cheek-to-turn-the-other-is-really-joining-a/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) [Browse all 95 Accomplices quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accomplices/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "But because me and myself, as you no doubt are well aware, we are going to die, my relation—and yours too—to the event of this text, which otherwise never quite makes it, our relation is that of a structurally posthumous necessity. Suppose, in that case, that I am not alone in my claim to know the idiomatic code (whose notion itself is already contradictory) of this event. What if somewhere, here or there, there are shares in this non-secret’s secret? Even so the scene would not be changed. 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