Édouard Louis Quotes

5 Sourced Quotes

To me, democracy is not about saying everything. Some things, like racism, antisemitism, shouldn't be issues, they shouldn't be talked about. Some subjects should be considered obsolete, and yes, let's shut down the debate because they are obsolete.

Édouard Louis
In the lower classes, politics has always been a matter of life and death. My parents were desperate at the idea of losing some badly needed social benefit, which might make the difference between whether we could go to the dentist. I was 15 when my father went to the dentist for the first time because the government created a new health benefit.

Édouard Louis
This social hierarchy, the dominated and the dominant, is in itself a violence. People say to me, 'Ah, but you managed to escape,' but to me that doesn't show it's possible – quite the opposite. Now I'm out, I can see how difficult it is to escape. I can see the extraordinary violence of it.

Édouard Louis
Today, we see the far right vote and we understand there is racism, of exclusion of poverty of violence around the world, but when we speak of it, we are always accused of exaggerating.

Édouard Louis
The word politics means different things to different social classes. How can politics create a better life if the individuals who create those politics are so lightly touched by its effects, if politics doesn't strike them in the way that it would strike the people of my childhood

Édouard Louis