1001Philosophers

Emmanuel Levinas Quotes on God

Emmanuel Levinas was a 20th-century Lithuanian-born French Jewish philosopher of the phenomenological and ethical tradition, one of the most influential figures of late 20th-century continental philosophy. This page collects quotes attributed to Emmanuel Levinas on the topic of god, drawn from across the philosopher's works.

Quotes

  • Attributed to Emmanuel Levinas:

    “Religion is the bond between the same and the other without constituting a totality.”

  • Attributed to Emmanuel Levinas:

    “The face of the other is the trace of the infinite.”

  • “To ignore the true God is in fact only half an evil; atheism is worth more than the piety bestowed on mythical gods.”

    A Religion for Adults (1957)
  • “A Religion for Adults (1957)”

    To ignore the true God is in fact only half an evil; atheism is worth more than the piety bestowed on mythical gods.
  • “The comprehension of God taken as a participation in his sacred life, an allegedly direct comprehension, is impossible, because participation is a denial of the divine , and because nothing is more direct than the face to face , which is straightforwardness itself.”

    Totality and Infinity (1961)