--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Discipline may be identified neither with…" description: "\"Discipline may be identified neither with an institution nor with an apparatus; it is a type of power, a modality for its exercise, comprising a whole ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bc/michel-foucault-1134_discipline_discipline-may-be-identified-neither-wit_2730626.jpg" --- # Discipline may be identified neither with an institution… ![“Discipline may be identified neither with an institution nor with an apparatus; it is a type of power, a modality for its exercise, comprising a whole set of instruments, techniques, procedures, levels of application, targets; it is a 'physics' or 'anatomy' of power, a technology.” quote by Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bc/michel-foucault-1134_discipline_discipline-may-be-identified-neither-wit_2730626.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bc/michel-foucault-1134_discipline_discipline-may-be-identified-neither-wit_2730626.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bc/michel-foucault-1134_discipline_discipline-may-be-identified-neither-wit_2730626.jpg) > “Discipline may be identified neither with an institution nor with an apparatus; it is a type of power, a modality for its exercise, comprising a whole set of instruments, techniques, procedures, levels of application, targets; it is a 'physics' or 'anatomy' of power, a technology.” [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 functions as a technology of power, employing various techniques and instruments to shape behavior. **In simple terms:** Discipline is a tool of power. Key Takeaway Analyze how power structures influence behavior. Themes power discipline technology Mood analytical critical Type philosophical theoretical When to use this quote - workplace management - education policy - law enforcement Key Concepts biopolitics surveillance social control Questions to Reflect On - How does discipline appear in everyday life? - What limits its effectiveness? A Different Perspective The concept can be abstract and hard to apply concretely. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Discipline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discipline/) [Fitness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fitness/) [Goals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goals/) [Physics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/physics/) [Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power/) [Technology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/technology/) ## Related quotes > [Certain issues in philosophy of science (having to do with observation and the definition of a theory's empirical import) had beenmisconstrued as issues in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bas-van-fraassen/certain-issues-in-philosophy-of-science-having-to-do-with-observation/) Bas van Fraassen > [It is slowly becoming understood that the modality of being is the modality of mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/it-is-slowly-becoming-understood-that-the-modality-of-being-is-the/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [Ineluctable modality of the visible; at least that if no more, thought through my eyes. Signatures of all things I am here to read.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-joyce/ineluctable-modality-of-the-visible-at-least-that-if-no-more-thought-4/) [James Joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-joyce/) > [The poem, for me, is simply the first sound realized in the modality of being.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-olson/the-poem-for-me-is-simply-the-first-sound-realized-in-the-modality-of/) [Charles Olson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-olson/) > [“Unlike logical modality and plain-old physical modality, situational physical modality, he observed, is not eternal and unchanging but rather highly sensitive to details of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-ryerson/unlike-logical-modality-and-plain-old-physical-modality-situational/) [James Ryerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-ryerson/) > [“Ineluctable modality of the visible: at least that if no more, thought through my eyes. Signatures of all things I am here to read,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-joyce/ineluctable-modality-of-the-visible-at-least-that-if-no-more-thought-3/) [James Joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-joyce/) > [“-To suffer is the great modality of taking the world seriously.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emil-cioran/to-suffer-is-the-great-modality-of-taking-the-world-seriously/) [Emil Cioran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emil-cioran/) > [“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/) > [If I wasn't acting or doing stand-up, I would be in animation. Or if I had the discipline I might studies physics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hardwick/if-i-wasn-t-acting-or-doing-stand-up-i-would-be-in-animation-or-if-i/) [Chris Hardwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hardwick/) > [There is not a soul on Earth who can read the deluge of physics publications in its entirety. As a result, it is sad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-pais/there-is-not-a-soul-on-earth-who-can-read-the-deluge-of-physics/) [Abraham Pais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-pais/) > [. . . to know the order of nature, and regard the universe as orderly is the highest function of the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baruch-spinoza/to-know-the-order-of-nature-and-regard-the-universe-as-orderly-is-the/) [Baruch Spinoza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baruch-spinoza/) > [The prediction of nuclear winter is drawn not, of course, from any direct experience with the consequences of global nuclear war, but rather from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-prediction-of-nuclear-winter-is-drawn-not-of-course-from-any/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“The generalized theory of relativity has furnished still more remarkable results. This considers not only uniform but also accelerated motion. In particular, it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-a-michelson/the-generalized-theory-of-relativity-has-furnished-still-more/) A.A. Michelson > [Quantum physics fluctuates all the time. But now the fluctuations are not just particles coming into and out of existence, which happens all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/quantum-physics-fluctuates-all-the-time-but-now-the-fluctuations-are/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [“The universe is not punishing you or blessing you. The universe is simply responding to the vibrational attitude that you are emitting.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-hicks/the-universe-is-not-punishing-you-or-blessing-you-the-universe-is/) [Abraham Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-hicks/) ## 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 may be identified neither with an institution nor with an apparatus; it is a type of power, a modality for its exercise, comprising a whole set of instruments, techniques, procedures, levels of application, targets; it is a 'physics' or 'anatomy' of power, a technology.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Michel Foucault" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/discipline-may-be-identified-neither-with-an-institution-nor-with-an/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Discipline" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/discipline-may-be-identified-neither-with-an-institution-nor-with-an/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bc/michel-foucault-1134_discipline_discipline-may-be-identified-neither-wit_2730626.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bc/michel-foucault-1134_discipline_discipline-may-be-identified-neither-wit_2730626.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5bc/michel-foucault-1134_discipline_discipline-may-be-identified-neither-wit_2730626.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Discipline may be identified neither with an institution nor with an apparatus; it is a type of power, a…” — Michel Foucault", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Michel Foucault", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Discipline may be identified neither with...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/discipline-may-be-identified-neither-with-an-institution-nor-with-an/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/discipline-may-be-identified-neither-with-an-institution-nor-with-an/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```