--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: So long as I perceive the world as…" description: "\"“So long as I perceive the world as hostile, I remain linked to it: *I am not crazy*. But sometimes, once my bad temper is exhausted, I have no languag..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6d/roland-barthes-1062_art_so-long-as-i-perceive-the-world-as-hosti_96557.jpg" --- # So long as I perceive the world as hostile, I remain… ![“So long as I perceive the world as hostile, I remain linked to it: *I am not crazy*. But sometimes, once my bad temper is exhausted, I have no language left at all: the world is not "unreal" (I could then utter it: there are arts of the unreal, among them the greatest arts of all), but disreal…” quote by Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6d/roland-barthes-1062_art_so-long-as-i-perceive-the-world-as-hosti_96557.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6d/roland-barthes-1062_art_so-long-as-i-perceive-the-world-as-hosti_96557.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6d/roland-barthes-1062_art_so-long-as-i-perceive-the-world-as-hosti_96557.jpg) > ““So long as I perceive the world as hostile, I remain linked to it: \*I am not crazy\*. But sometimes, once my bad temper is exhausted, I have no language left at all: the world is not "unreal" (I could then utter it: there are arts of the unreal, among them the greatest arts of all), but disreal: reality has fled from it, is nowhere, so that I no longer have any meaning (any paradigm) available to me; \*I do not manage\* to define my relations with Coluche, the restaurant, the painter, the Piazza del Popolo. What relation can I have with a system of power if I am neither its slave nor its accomplice nor its witness." —from\_A Lover's Discourse: Fragments\_”” [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Barthes describes a breakdown of language when confronting a hostile world, leading to a state where reality feels absent and conventional relations become undefinable. **In simple terms:** When language fails, reality feels disreal. Key Takeaway Alienation erodes meaning. Themes existentialism language alienation power identity Mood melancholic introspective Type philosophical essay fragment When to use this quote - philosophical crisis - artistic creation - political dissent Key Concepts semantic breakdown subjective reality Practical Applications - critical theory - creative writing Questions to Reflect On - How does loss of language affect one's sense of self? - Can art restore meaning in a disreal world? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Bad temper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-temper/) [Being](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/being/) [Disreal Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disreal-reality-1184559/) [Lover Discourse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lover-discourse-1184558/) [Meaning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meaning/) [Power](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Relations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/relations/) [Roland-barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/roland-barthes-160275/) [Unreal Utter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unreal-utter-1184560/) ## Related quotes > [“I experience reality as a system of power. Coluche, the restaurant, the painter, Rome on a holiday, everything imposes on me its system of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/i-experience-reality-as-a-system-of-power-coluche-the-restaurant-the/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [“Another unary photograph is the pornographic photograph (I am not saying the erotic photograph: the erotic is a pornographic that has been disturbed, fissured).…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/another-unary-photograph-is-the-pornographic-photograph-i-am-not/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [“Literature is like phosphorus: it shines with its maximum brilliance and the moment when it attempts to die.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/literature-is-like-phosphorus-it-shines-with-its-maximum-brilliance/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [“…This singular reversal may perhaps proceed from the fact that for us the “subject” (since Christianity) is the one who suffers: where there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/this-singular-reversal-may-perhaps-proceed-from-the-fact-that-for-us/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [“Justice is always ready to lend you a spare brain in order to condemn you without a second thought”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/justice-is-always-ready-to-lend-you-a-spare-brain-in-order-to-condemn/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [“Cinema captures the sound of speech close up and makes us hear in their materiality, their sensuality, the breath, the gutturals, the fleshiness of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/cinema-captures-the-sound-of-speech-close-up-and-makes-us-hear-in/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [“Perhaps I had just ruined it by reading Barthes at the wrong time. ( A Lover’s Discourse , Chandra said, was relationship poison .)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-lacey/perhaps-i-had-just-ruined-it-by-reading-barthes-at-the-wrong-time-a/) [Catherine Lacey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-lacey/) > [“And it was during this period that Madeleine fully understood how the lover's discourse was of an extreme solitude. The solitude was extreme because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-eugenides/and-it-was-during-this-period-that-madeleine-fully-understood-how-the/) [Jeffrey Eugenides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-eugenides/) > [The lover's discourse was of an extreme solitude. The solitude was extreme because it wasn't physical. It was extreme because you felt it while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-eugenides/the-lover-s-discourse-was-of-an-extreme-solitude-the-solitude-was/) [Jeffrey Eugenides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-eugenides/) > [Nah, I don't have a bad temper. I just have a quick reaction to bullshit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/nah-i-don-t-have-a-bad-temper-i-just-have-a-quick-reaction-to-bullshit/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [A man of bad character punishes his own soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-ghazali/a-man-of-bad-character-punishes-his-own-soul/) [Al-Ghazali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-ghazali/) > [“For example, if a man with a bad temper has been provoked, then he will surely start shouting or start a fight. You could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clarence-t-rivers/for-example-if-a-man-with-a-bad-temper-has-been-provoked-then-he-will/) [Clarence T. Rivers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clarence-t-rivers/) > [Truths of life¦ The most beautiful day: Today The easiest thing: Equivocate The biggest obstacle: Fear The gravest error: give up, to despair The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/truths-of-life-the-most-beautiful-day-today-the-easiest-thing/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If a man is crossing the river and an empty boat collides with his skiff, even though he is a bad tempered man he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zhuangzi/if-a-man-is-crossing-the-river-and-an-empty-boat-collides-with-his/) [Zhuangzi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zhuangzi/) > [“To use strong language, she thought, was a sign of bad temper and lack of concern for others. Such people were not clever or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-mccall-smith/to-use-strong-language-she-thought-was-a-sign-of-bad-temper-and-lack/) [Alexander McCall Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-mccall-smith/) ## More by Roland Barthes > [“Werther identifies himself with the madman, with the footman. As a reader, I can identify myself with Werther. Historically, thousands of subjects have done…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/werther-identifies-himself-with-the-madman-with-the-footman-as-a/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [The Text is not a definitive object.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/the-text-is-not-a-definitive-object/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [“Valéry used to speak of those people who die in an accident because they are unwilling to let go of their umbrellas; how many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/val-ry-used-to-speak-of-those-people-who-die-in-an-accident-because/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [Today there is no symbolic compensation for old age, no recognition of a specific value: wisdom, perceptiveness, experience, vision.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/today-there-is-no-symbolic-compensation-for-old-age-no-recognition-of/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [The unary Photograph has every reason to be banal, 'unity' of composition being the first rule of vulgar (and notably, of academic) rhetoric: 'The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/the-unary-photograph-has-every-reason-to-be-banal-unity-of/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [“A creative writer is one for whom writing is a problem.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/a-creative-writer-is-one-for-whom-writing-is-a-problem/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [“Man does not exist prior to language, either as a species or as an individual. We never encounter a state where man is separated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/man-does-not-exist-prior-to-language-either-as-a-species-or-as-an/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [“It is said that Time soothes mourning – No, Time makes nothing happen; it merely makes the emotivity of mourning pass.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/it-is-said-that-time-soothes-mourning-no-time-makes-nothing-happen-it/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [I think that cars today are almost the exact equivalent of the great Gothic cathedrals: I mean the supreme creation of an era, conceived…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/i-think-that-cars-today-are-almost-the-exact-equivalent-of-the-great/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [“(Sartre) (The world is full without me, as in Nausea; the world plays at living behind a glass partition; the world is in an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/sartre-the-world-is-full-without-me-as-in-nausea-the-world-plays-at/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [“Like love, mourning affects the world—and the worldly—with unreality, with importunity. I resist the world, I suffer from what it demands of me, from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/like-love-mourning-affects-the-world-and-the-worldly-with-unreality/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [Painting can feign reality without having seen it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/painting-can-feign-reality-without-having-seen-it/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [“There is an age at which we teach what we know. Then comes another age at which we teach what we do not know;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/there-is-an-age-at-which-we-teach-what-we-know-then-comes-another-age/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [As a jealous man, I suffer four times over: because I am jealous, because I blame myself for being so, because I fear that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/as-a-jealous-man-i-suffer-four-times-over-because-i-am-jealous/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) > [“True wrestling, wrong called amateur wrestling, is performed in second-rate halls, where the public spontaneously attunes itself to the spectacular nature of the contest,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/true-wrestling-wrong-called-amateur-wrestling-is-performed-in-second/) [Roland Barthes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) [Explore all 282 Roland Barthes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) [Taf Teh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taf-teh/) > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/) [G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/) > [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“So long as I perceive the world as hostile, I remain linked to it: *I am not crazy*. But sometimes, once my bad temper is exhausted, I have no language left at all: the world is not \"unreal\" (I could then utter it: there are arts of the unreal, among them the greatest arts of all), but disreal: reality has fled from it, is nowhere, so that I no longer have any meaning (any paradigm) available to me; *I do not manage* to define my relations with Coluche, the restaurant, the painter, the Piazza del Popolo. What relation can I have with a system of power if I am neither its slave nor its accomplice nor its witness.\" —from_A Lover's Discourse: Fragments_”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Roland Barthes" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/so-long-as-i-perceive-the-world-as-hostile-i-remain-linked-to-it-i-am/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/so-long-as-i-perceive-the-world-as-hostile-i-remain-linked-to-it-i-am/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6d/roland-barthes-1062_art_so-long-as-i-perceive-the-world-as-hosti_96557.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6d/roland-barthes-1062_art_so-long-as-i-perceive-the-world-as-hosti_96557.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6d/roland-barthes-1062_art_so-long-as-i-perceive-the-world-as-hosti_96557.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“So long as I perceive the world as hostile, I remain linked to it: *I am not crazy*. But sometimes, once my…” — Roland Barthes", "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": "Roland Barthes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roland-barthes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“So long as I perceive the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/so-long-as-i-perceive-the-world-as-hostile-i-remain-linked-to-it-i-am/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roland-barthes/so-long-as-i-perceive-the-world-as-hostile-i-remain-linked-to-it-i-am/#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 } } ] } ```