Paul Virilio quotes

Paul Virilio was a French philosopher, cultural theorist, and urbanist, renowned for his studies on technology, speed, and modern society. Known for coining the concept of "dromology," his work explored the relationship between acceleration and power. He was influential in critiquing the impact of technological advancements on perception, warfare, and urban life. Here are 12 of his quotes:

When you invent the ship, you also invent the shipwreck; when you invent the plane you also invent the plane crash; and when you invent electricity, you invent electrocution... Every technology carries its own negativity, which is invented at the same time as technical progress.

Paul Virilio

All of us are already civilian soldiers, without knowing it...The great stroke of luck for the military class's terrorism is that no one recognizes it. People don't recognize the militarized part of their identity, of their consciousness.

Paul Virilio

The thing about collaborators is that you don't know you are one whereas as a member of the resistance, you do. [In WWII, ] the worst cases of collaboration weren't among the real collaborators, that official militia, but among the people at large, who were collaborators without knowing it, by a sort of laxity, an apathy.

Paul Virilio

The first deterrence, nuclear deterrence, is presently being superseded by the second deterrence: a type of deterrence based on what I call 'the information bomb' associated with the new weaponry of information and communications technologies. Thus, in the very near future, and I stress this important point, it will no longer be war that is the continuation of politics by other means, it will be what I have dubbed 'the integral accident' that is the continuation of politics by other means.

Paul Virilio

There are eyes everywhere. No blind spot left. What shall we dream of when everything becomes visible? We'll dream of being blind.

Paul Virilio

It will no longer be war that is the continuation of politics by other means, it will be what I have dubbed 'the integral accident' that is the continuation of politics by other means.

Paul Virilio

Images contaminate us like viruses.

Paul Virilio

War was my university. Everything has proceeded from there.

Paul Virilio

The speed of light does not merely transform the world. It becomes the world. Globalization is the speed of light.

Paul Virilio

There are no pessimists; there are only realists and liars.

Paul Virilio