--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We should not be content to say that…" description: "\"We should not be content to say that power has a need for such-and-such a discovery, such-and-such a form of knowledge, but we should add that the exer..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/763/michel-foucault-1134_add_we-should-not-be-content-to-say-that-pow_2068459.jpg" --- # We should not be content to say that power has a need for… ![“We should not be content to say that power has a need for such-and-such a discovery, such-and-such a form of knowledge, but we should add that the exercise of power itself creates and causes to emerge new objects of knowledge and accumulates new bodies of information. ... The exercise of power…” quote by Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/763/michel-foucault-1134_add_we-should-not-be-content-to-say-that-pow_2068459.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/763/michel-foucault-1134_add_we-should-not-be-content-to-say-that-pow_2068459.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/763/michel-foucault-1134_add_we-should-not-be-content-to-say-that-pow_2068459.jpg) > “We should not be content to say that power has a need for such-and-such a discovery, such-and-such a form of knowledge, but we should add that the exercise of power itself creates and causes to emerge new objects of knowledge and accumulates new bodies of information. ... The exercise of power perpetually creates knowledge and, conversely, knowledge constantly induces effects of power. ... It is not possible for power to be exercised without knowledge, it is impossible for knowledge not to engender power.” [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. Power and knowledge are interdependent; each shapes and expands the other. **In simple terms:** Power and knowledge feed each other. Key Takeaway Recognize their mutual influence. Themes power knowledge society control truth Mood analytical critical Type philosophical theoretical When to use this quote - academic research - media analysis - policy development - organizational strategy Key Concepts Foucaultian theory discursive formation biopolitics Questions to Reflect On - In what ways does knowledge empower resistance? - How does power manifest in everyday interactions? A Different Perspective Power can be exercised covertly, limiting transparency. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Body](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/body/) [Discovery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discovery/) [Exercise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exercise/) [Fitness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fitness/) [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) [Knowledge and power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge-and-power/) ## Related quotes > [...it's my hypothesis that the individual is not a pre-given entity which is seized on by the exercise of power. The individual, with his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/it-s-my-hypothesis-that-the-individual-is-not-a-pre-given-entity/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [“Traditionally, power was what was seen, what was shown, and what was manifested...Disciplinary power, on the other hand, is exercised through its invisibility; at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/traditionally-power-was-what-was-seen-what-was-shown-and-what-was/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Corruption springs from light: 'tis one same power Creates, preserves, destroys; matter whereon It works, on e'er self-transmutative form, Common to now the living,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-james-bailey/corruption-springs-from-light-tis-one-same-power-creates-preserves/) [Philip James Bailey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-james-bailey/) > [I would define the proper use of power as something that creates happiness for yourself and others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/i-would-define-the-proper-use-of-power-as-something-that-creates/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [The Power which creates and sustains everything is now creating everything necessary to my happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-holmes/the-power-which-creates-and-sustains-everything-is-now-creating/) [Ernest Holmes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-holmes/) > [Culture is like the sum of special knowledge that accumulates in any large united family and is the common property of all its members.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/culture-is-like-the-sum-of-special-knowledge-that-accumulates-in-any/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [Universities are full of Knowledge; the freshmen bring a little in, the seniors take none away, and the knowledge there accumulates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abbott-lawrence-lowell/universities-are-full-of-knowledge-the-freshmen-bring-a-little-in-the/) [Abbott Lawrence Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abbott-lawrence-lowell/) > [“Progress in science and technology is real, but it builds on past truths without rejecting them. Computers don’t have to be re-invented in order…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-edward-veith/progress-in-science-and-technology-is-real-but-it-builds-on-past/) Gene Edward Veith > [“Universities are full of knowledge; the freshmen bring a little in and the seniors take none away, and knowledge accumulates.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/universities-are-full-of-knowledge-the-freshmen-bring-a-little-in-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > ['Truth' is to be understood as a system of ordered procedures for the production, regulation, distribution, circulation and operation of statements. 'Truth' is linked…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/truth-is-to-be-understood-as-a-system-of-ordered-procedures-for-the/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Relations of power "are indissociable from a discourse of truth, and they can neither be established nor function unless a true discourse is produced,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/relations-of-power-are-indissociable-from-a-discourse-of-truth-and/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [... we are obliged to produce the truth by the power that demands truth and needs it in order to function: we are constrained,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-foucault/we-are-obliged-to-produce-the-truth-by-the-power-that-demands-truth/) [Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-foucault/) > [Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret, especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-proxmire/power-always-has-to-be-kept-in-check-power-exercised-in-secret/) [William Proxmire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-proxmire/) > [“The language of power was exercised in more than just words. It was presence and thought; it was gesture and timing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-chadwick/the-language-of-power-was-exercised-in-more-than-just-words-it-was/) [Elizabeth Chadwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-chadwick/) > [Power corrupts, and there is nothing more corrupting than power exercised in secret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-schorr/power-corrupts-and-there-is-nothing-more-corrupting-than-power/) [Daniel Schorr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-schorr/) ## 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 Add quotes > [Most marriages don't add two people together. 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The well-adapted drop off the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elias-canetti/a-modern-man-has-nothing-to-add-to-modernism-if-only-because-he-has/) [Elias Canetti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elias-canetti/) > [Observation and theory get on best when they are mixed together, both helping one another in the pursuit of truth. It is a good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-eddington/observation-and-theory-get-on-best-when-they-are-mixed-together-both/) [Arthur Eddington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-eddington/) > [I may add that we have more than once stated our willingness to conclude nonaggression pacts with the states neighboring our own!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/i-may-add-that-we-have-more-than-once-stated-our-willingness-to/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [The American Constitution declares 'All men are born equal.' The British Socialist Party add: 'All men must be kept equal'.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/the-american-constitution-declares-all-men-are-born-equal-the-british/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [New generations of humans inherit the acquired discoveries of generations past, allowing cosmic insight to accumulate without limit. Each discovery of science therefore adds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-degrasse-tyson/new-generations-of-humans-inherit-the-acquired-discoveries-of/) [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-degrasse-tyson/) > [Thirty days is just about the right amount of time to add a new habit or subtract a habit - like watching the news…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-cutts/thirty-days-is-just-about-the-right-amount-of-time-to-add-a-new-habit/) [Matt Cutts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-cutts/) > [In presenting a mathematical argument the great thing is to give the educated reader the chance to catch on at once to the momentary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-edensor-littlewood/in-presenting-a-mathematical-argument-the-great-thing-is-to-give-the/) [John Edensor Littlewood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-edensor-littlewood/) > [The Greeks said grandly in their tragic phrase, 'Let no one be called happy till his death;' to which I would add, 'Let no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-barrett-browning/the-greeks-said-grandly-in-their-tragic-phrase-let-no-one-be-called/) [Elizabeth Barrett Browning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-barrett-browning/) > [Mostly we just add to the piles of rainbow glass that's been blown off the exteriors of the cany-colored buildings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/mostly-we-just-add-to-the-piles-of-rainbow-glass-that-s-been-blown/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [Global is a unifying bond for people. 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