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We are given over to absolute solitude. No one can speak with us and no one can speak for us we must take it upon ourselves, each of us must take it upon himself.

Jacques Derrida

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Jacques Derrida
Age: 74 †
Born: 1930
Born: July 15
Died: 2004
Died: October 9
Literary Critic
Philosopher
University Teacher
Writer
Jackie Derrida
Jackie Elie Derrida
Jackie Élie Derrida
J. Derrida
Speak
Given
Take
Must
Absolutes
Absolute
Solitude
Upon

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Beyond the touchline there is nothing.
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I say things that contradict each other, that are in real tension with each other, that compose me, that make me live, and that will make me die.
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As soon as there is language, generality has entered the scene.
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I do everything I think possible or acceptable to escape from this trap.
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Surviving - that is the other name of a mourning whose possibility is never to be awaited.
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There is nothing outside of the text. [Fr., Il n'y a pas de hors-texte.]
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I am one of those marranes who no longer say they are Jews even in the secret of their own hearts.
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The trace I leave to me means at once my death, to come or already come, and the hope that it will survive me. It is not an ambition of immortality it is fundamental. I leave here a bit of paper, I leave, I die it is impossible to exit this structure it is the unchanging form of my life. Every time I let something go, I live my death in writing.
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I would like to write you so simply, so simply, so simply. Without having anything ever catch the eye, excepting yours alone, ... so that above all the language remains self-evidently secret, as if it were being invented at every step, and as if it were burning immediately
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I rightly pass for an atheist.
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