1001Philosophers

Maurice Blanchot Quotes

Maurice Blanchot was a French writer, literary theorist, and philosopher whose work occupies a singular place in twentieth-century French thought. After early right-wing political journalism that he later disavowed, he lived a famously reclusive life devoted to the writing of fiction, criticism, and philosophical essay. The quotes below are attributed to Maurice Blanchot, organized by topic.

Maurice Blanchot on Death

  • Attributed to Maurice Blanchot:

    “Death is the impossibility of every possibility.”

Maurice Blanchot on Love

  • Attributed to Maurice Blanchot:

    “To respond to the other is to give what one does not have.”

Maurice Blanchot on Truth

  • Attributed to Maurice Blanchot:

    “Writing is the wakefulness of the disaster.”

  • Attributed to Maurice Blanchot:

    “Literature begins where literature becomes a question.”

  • Attributed to Maurice Blanchot:

    “The work demands of the writer that he lose everything he might construe as his own.”