--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I don't feel that it is necessary to know…" description: "\"I don't feel that it is necessary to know exactly what I am.\" — Michel Foucault" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e82/michel-foucault-1134_feels_i-don-t-feel-that-it-is-necessary-to-kno_1543365.jpg" --- # I don't feel that it is necessary to know exactly what I am. ![“I don't feel that it is necessary to know exactly what I am.” quote by Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e82/michel-foucault-1134_feels_i-don-t-feel-that-it-is-necessary-to-kno_1543365.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e82/michel-foucault-1134_feels_i-don-t-feel-that-it-is-necessary-to-kno_1543365.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e82/michel-foucault-1134_feels_i-don-t-feel-that-it-is-necessary-to-kno_1543365.jpg) > “I don't feel that it is necessary to know exactly what I am.” [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. Knowing one's exact identity is unnecessary; identity is fluid and socially constructed. **In simple terms:** Exact identity isn’t required. Key Takeaway Accept fluid self‑concepts. Themes identity fluidity self‑construction Mood introspective philosophical Type theoretical psychological When to use this quote - personal growth - therapy - social activism Key Concepts post‑structuralism social theory Questions to Reflect On - How does fluid identity affect relationships? - Can you act without a fixed self? A Different Perspective Over‑emphasis on labels can limit freedom. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet ## 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/) > [“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/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“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-2/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [We feel it's necessary to reduce accommodation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-h-moskow/we-feel-it-s-necessary-to-reduce-accommodation/) Michael H. Moskow > [“We have to make these young people (of the Depression) feel that they are necessary. (They should be given) "certain things for which youth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-roosevelt/we-have-to-make-these-young-people-of-the-depression-feel-that-they/) [Eleanor Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-roosevelt/) > [“I know what I did to you was so wrong, but at the time it also felt so necessary to my survival. I don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gayle-forman/i-know-what-i-did-to-you-was-so-wrong-but-at-the-time-it-also-felt-so-2/) [Gayle Forman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gayle-forman/) > [I don't ever feel that it's necessary to say certain things. I think we can be very suggestive. I think we can allude to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teddy-pendergrass/i-don-t-ever-feel-that-it-s-necessary-to-say-certain-things-i-think/) [Teddy Pendergrass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teddy-pendergrass/) > [“Consider every path carefully, testing it in whichever way you feel necessary – then ask yourself, but only yourself, one question: ‘does this path…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/th-un-mares/consider-every-path-carefully-testing-it-in-whichever-way-you-feel/) [Théun Mares](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/th-un-mares/) > [If you can't beat them or join them, then do something weird. No matter how much the passengers eat, the weight of the plane…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/if-you-can-t-beat-them-or-join-them-then-do-something-weird-no-matter/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [“The way he’s watching me makes me feel needed like no one’s ever been able to make me feel. In a way, he makes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colleen-hoover/the-way-he-s-watching-me-makes-me-feel-needed-like-no-one-s-ever-been/) [Colleen Hoover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colleen-hoover/) > [“I know I should try harder to make her feel necessary in my life. It totally freaked her when I said I didn’t need…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-klise/i-know-i-should-try-harder-to-make-her-feel-necessary-in-my-life-it/) [Kate Klise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-klise/) > [The only thing I really feel is necessary is that the black people, not only in Mississippi, will have to actually upset this applecart.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/the-only-thing-i-really-feel-is-necessary-is-that-the-black-people/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [Uncomfortable silences. Why do we feel it's necessary to yak about bullshit in order to be comfortable?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-i-a/uncomfortable-silences-why-do-we-feel-it-s-necessary-to-yak-about/) M.I.A > [Here is how it is for women. We become our schedules. That starts to feel good. Then it starts to feel necessary. Then it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacquelyn-mitchard/here-is-how-it-is-for-women-we-become-our-schedules-that-starts-to/) [Jacquelyn Mitchard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacquelyn-mitchard/) > [What I really feel is necessary is that the black people in this country wil have to upset this apple cart. We can no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/what-i-really-feel-is-necessary-is-that-the-black-people-in-this/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) ## 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 Feel quotes > [I feel like I definitely have a real sporty style, more so than a lot of people in G.O.O.D. 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And that is something that has always moved me with music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-brink/there-is-something-magical-about-being-able-to-feel-somebody-and-that/) [Maria Brink](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-brink/) > [I feel very grateful to be alive and well enough to make music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-ant/i-feel-very-grateful-to-be-alive-and-well-enough-to-make-music/) Adam Ant > [I feel as though I've fooled the world into thinking I'm an adult and now they're letting me procreate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-murray/i-feel-as-though-i-ve-fooled-the-world-into-thinking-i-m-an-adult-and/) [George Murray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-murray/) > [I feel like I could eat the world raw.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madeline-miller/i-feel-like-i-could-eat-the-world-raw/) [Madeline Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madeline-miller/) > [I like to wear bodysuits and things that make me feel really active and athletic and also really sensual.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophie-hawley-weld/i-like-to-wear-bodysuits-and-things-that-make-me-feel-really-active/) [Sophie Hawley-Weld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophie-hawley-weld/) > [You can't force people to feel in a certain way, and the sooner you understand that,the better. 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