"The structure of our desire, which precedes our consciousness, is murderous. That desire ensures that our cultural constructs, our language and our knowledge are radically inflected by the lie which fails to recognise this, fails to see God in humans who are 'other', or ourselves in our victims, which is to say the same thing."
React to this quote
More by James Alison
See allResonant Thoughts
"No matter how much people are willing to pay, three will never be the square root of six. Similarly, segregation is a national curse and the fact that we are willing to pay for it does not make it bet…"
"Until always and forever. Now in 1944. After all the hours lived through. The vectors continue in their original direction. Nothing stops them. With no more knowledge than live emotion. With no other …"
Explore Further
Related Quotes
"Two centuries ago, our forbears would have known the precise history and origin of nearly every one of the …"
— Alain de Botton"Thousands of people with good qualities are displeasing; thousands pleasing with far less abilities, and wh…"
— François de La Rochefoucauld"The big Wall Street firms, seemingly so shrewd and self-interested, had somehow become the dumb money. The …"
— Michael Lewis (author)"We won the election twice. I mean, you know, think about it ..."
— Donald Trump"There may be said to be two classes of people in the world; those who constantly divide the people of the w…"
— Robert Benchley"The writer in me distrusts the good citizen, the "intellectual ambassador," the human rights activist — tho…"
— Susan Sontag

