--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Discipline 'makes' individuals; it is the…" description: "\"“Discipline 'makes' individuals; it is the specific technique of a power that regards individuals both as objects and as instruments of its exercise. I..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/717/michel-foucault-1134_discipline_discipline-makes-individuals-it-is-the-s_699819.jpg" --- # Discipline 'makes' individuals; it is the specific… ![“Discipline 'makes' individuals; it is the specific technique of a power that regards individuals both as objects and as instruments of its exercise. It is not a triumphant power...it is a modest, suspicious power, which functions as a calculated, but permanent economy.” quote by Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/717/michel-foucault-1134_discipline_discipline-makes-individuals-it-is-the-s_699819.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/717/michel-foucault-1134_discipline_discipline-makes-individuals-it-is-the-s_699819.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/717/michel-foucault-1134_discipline_discipline-makes-individuals-it-is-the-s_699819.jpg) > ““Discipline 'makes' individuals; it is the specific technique of a power that regards individuals both as objects and as instruments of its exercise. It is not a triumphant power...it is a modest, suspicious power, which functions as a calculated, but permanent economy.”” [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Discipline shapes individuals by treating them as both objects to be controlled and tools for broader power structures, operating subtly yet persistently. **In simple terms:** Power controls people through disciplined systems. Key Takeaway Recognize and question subtle power mechanisms. Themes power discipline control individuality Mood critical analytical Type philosophical political When to use this quote - workplace management - education systems - government policy Key Concepts biopolitics surveillance social engineering Questions to Reflect On - In what ways does discipline empower versus oppress? - How can individuals retain agency within disciplined systems? A Different Perspective Discipline can suppress creativity and autonomy if unchecked. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Discipline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discipline/) [Fitness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fitness/) [Individuals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individuals/) [Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power/) ## Related quotes > [All the players have this responsibility of playing for the collective and also being individuals with some specific characteristics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tite/all-the-players-have-this-responsibility-of-playing-for-the/) [Tite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tite/) > [Self discipline makes you a person of character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dranil-kr-sinha/self-discipline-makes-you-a-person-of-character/) [DrAnil Kr Sinha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dranil-kr-sinha/) > [The worst, the hardest, the most disagreeable thing that you may have to do may be the thing that counts most, because it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elihu-root/the-worst-the-hardest-the-most-disagreeable-thing-that-you-may-have/) [Elihu Root](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elihu-root/) > [Education gives you knowledge, power of understanig & to analyse the given situation.But self discipline makes you a person of character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dranil-kr-sinha/education-gives-you-knowledge-power-of-understanig-to-analyse-the/) [DrAnil Kr Sinha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dranil-kr-sinha/) > [The real test is this one: When you're alone in a room, when you're in a private place and nobody else can see you,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-st-pierre/the-real-test-is-this-one-when-you-re-alone-in-a-room-when-you-re-in/) [Georges St-Pierre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-st-pierre/) > [Discipline makes hard men. Every hard man is capable of being a killer. But every killer is not capable of being a hard man.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-tyson/discipline-makes-hard-men-every-hard-man-is-capable-of-being-a-killer/) [Mike Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-tyson/) > [I think passion gives you the energy to do what is right, and discipline makes sure you do what is right. So I look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-c-maxwell/i-think-passion-gives-you-the-energy-to-do-what-is-right-and/) [John C. Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-c-maxwell/) > [As long as you have discipline, you can be a success. Discipline is what makes you do everything you need to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-joshua/as-long-as-you-have-discipline-you-can-be-a-success-discipline-is/) [Anthony Joshua](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-joshua/) > [“How could the disciplines and the power that functions in them appear arbitrary, when they merely operate the mechanisms of justice itself, even with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/how-could-the-disciplines-and-the-power-that-functions-in-them-appear/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [It is the responsibility of leadership to provide opportunity, and the responsibility of individuals to contribute.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-pollard/it-is-the-responsibility-of-leadership-to-provide-opportunity-and-the/) [William Pollard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-pollard/) > [Exchange of breeding individuals between two populations tends to homogenize their gene pools.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-r-grant/exchange-of-breeding-individuals-between-two-populations-tends-to/) [Peter R. Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-r-grant/) > [It turns out that the God whose word will stand forever does not exist to insure our fantasies that we will not have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-hauerwas/it-turns-out-that-the-god-whose-word-will-stand-forever-does-not/) [Stanley Hauerwas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-hauerwas/) > [Just as Wall Street needs to break the hold of the bonus culture, which drives risk-taking that is rational for individuals but damaging to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randy-schekman/just-as-wall-street-needs-to-break-the-hold-of-the-bonus-culture/) [Randy Schekman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randy-schekman/) > [Markets are designed to allow individuals to look after their private needs and to pursue profit. It's really a great invention and I wouldn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-soros/markets-are-designed-to-allow-individuals-to-look-after-their-private/) [George Soros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-soros/) > [Governments follow their people. A great deal has to do with the vision of the leadership of governments. They have a vision, and they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-khurshid/governments-follow-their-people-a-great-deal-has-to-do-with-the/) [Salman Khurshid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-khurshid/) ## More by Michel Foucault > [One should try to locate power at the extreme of its exercise, where it is always less legal in character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/one-should-try-to-locate-power-at-the-extreme-of-its-exercise-where/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [The book is not simply the object that one holds in one's hands, and it cannot remain within the little parallelpiped that contains it:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-book-is-not-simply-the-object-that-one-holds-in-one-s-hands-and/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“But a punishment like forced labour or even imprisonment – mere loss of liberty – has never functioned without a certain additional element of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/but-a-punishment-like-forced-labour-or-even-imprisonment-mere-loss-of/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Death left its old tragic heaven and became the lyrical core of man: his invisible truth, his visible secret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/death-left-its-old-tragic-heaven-and-became-the-lyrical-core-of-man/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [I'm no prophet. My job is making windows where there were once walls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/i-m-no-prophet-my-job-is-making-windows-where-there-were-once-walls/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Let us ask... how things work at the level of on-going subjugation, at the level of those continuous and uninterrupted processes which subject our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/let-us-ask-how-things-work-at-the-level-of-on-going-subjugation-at/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [What makes power hold good, what makes it accepted, is simply the fact that it doesn't only weigh on us as a force that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/what-makes-power-hold-good-what-makes-it-accepted-is-simply-the-fact/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“It was a matter of showing by what conjunctions a whole set of practices-- from the moment they became coordinated with a regime of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/it-was-a-matter-of-showing-by-what-conjunctions-a-whole-set-of/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“The preferred medications were those that forestalled corruption. We know 'as a result of more than three thousand years of experience that Myrrh and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-preferred-medications-were-those-that-forestalled-corruption-we/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“The man described for us, whom we are invited to free, is already in himself the effect of a subjection much more profound than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/the-man-described-for-us-whom-we-are-invited-to-free-is-already-in/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“Confined on the ship, from which there is no escape, the madman is delivered to the river with its thousand arms, the sea with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/confined-on-the-ship-from-which-there-is-no-escape-the-madman-is/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Believe what is productive is not sedentary but nomadic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/believe-what-is-productive-is-not-sedentary-but-nomadic/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Are the prisons overpopulated, or is the population over-imprisoned ?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/are-the-prisons-overpopulated-or-is-the-population-over-imprisoned/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [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/) > [Withdraw allegiance from the old categories of the Negative (law, limit, castration, lack, lacuna), which the Western thought has so long held sacred as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/withdraw-allegiance-from-the-old-categories-of-the-negative-law-limit/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) [Explore all 272 Michel Foucault quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) ## More Discipline quotes > [Christianity was never meant to be defined by its disciplines, but by its passions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-johnson/christianity-was-never-meant-to-be-defined-by-its-disciplines-but-by/) [Bill Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-johnson/) > [Grit and self-control are related, but they're not the same thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-duckworth/grit-and-self-control-are-related-but-they-re-not-the-same-thing/) [Angela Duckworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-duckworth/) > [“Peace requires a discipline more iron than war. - Easter, 1939 ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-j-turner/peace-requires-a-discipline-more-iron-than-war-easter-1939/) W.J. Turner > [You can't have the fruits without the roots. It's the principle of sequencing: Private Victories proceed Public Victories. Self-mastery and self-discipline are the foundation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-covey/you-can-t-have-the-fruits-without-the-roots-it-s-the-principle-of/) [Stephen Covey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-covey/) > [Like a child exploring the attic of an old house on a rainy day, discovering a trunk full of treasure and then calling all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-h-peterson/like-a-child-exploring-the-attic-of-an-old-house-on-a-rainy-day/) [Eugene H. Peterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-h-peterson/) > [Exercise teaches you the pleasure of discipline.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-fonda/exercise-teaches-you-the-pleasure-of-discipline/) [Jane Fonda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-fonda/) > [I'm always writing. I'm an obsessive. It's not because I'm a disciplined person. It's because I'm crazy about it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hanif-kureishi/i-m-always-writing-i-m-an-obsessive-it-s-not-because-i-m-a/) [Hanif Kureishi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hanif-kureishi/) > [“I felt like praying or something, when I was in bed, but I couldn't do it. I can't always pray when I feel like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-d-salinger/i-felt-like-praying-or-something-when-i-was-in-bed-but-i-couldn-t-do/) [J.D. Salinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-d-salinger/) > [The undisciplined child enters into discipline by working in the company of others; not being told he is naughty.” “Discipline is, therefore, primarily a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-montessori/the-undisciplined-child-enters-into-discipline-by-working-in-the/) [Maria Montessori](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-montessori/) > [“Proverbs from the East: The wind howls, but the mountain remains still. Even though I make no special attempt to observe the discipline of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-cain/proverbs-from-the-east-the-wind-howls-but-the-mountain-remains-still/) [Susan Cain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-cain/) > [To behave creatively in art means behavior with skill; and skill comes from discipline, not derangement. The artist who knows the rules -and proportion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/burne-hogarth/to-behave-creatively-in-art-means-behavior-with-skill-and-skill-comes/) Burne Hogarth > [Self-discipline is an act of cultivation. It require you to connect today's actions to tomorrow's results. There's a season for sowing a season for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-ryan-blair/self-discipline-is-an-act-of-cultivation-it-require-you-to-connect/) [Gary Ryan Blair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-ryan-blair/) > [The individual, by means of the discipline imposed on him by sport, not only plays and finds relaxation from the various compulsions to which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-ellul/the-individual-by-means-of-the-discipline-imposed-on-him-by-sport-not/) [Jacques Ellul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-ellul/) > [Cheerfulness in most cheerful people is the rich and satisfying result of strenuous discipline.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-percy-whipple/cheerfulness-in-most-cheerful-people-is-the-rich-and-satisfying/) [Edwin Percy Whipple](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-percy-whipple/) > [Stay in your seat come times of trouble. Its only people who jump off the roller coaster who get hurt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-harvey/stay-in-your-seat-come-times-of-trouble-its-only-people-who-jump-off/) [Paul Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-harvey/) [Browse all 5,597 Discipline quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discipline/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Discipline 'makes' individuals; it is the specific technique of a power that regards individuals both as objects and as instruments of its exercise. 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