Ivan Illich Quotes

A collection of quotes by Ivan Illich.

Ivan Illich was an Austrian philosopher, writer, and social critic, born on September 4, 1926, in Vienna. He is best known for his critique on modern institutions, particularly focusing on education, medicine, and transportation systems. Illich believed that these institutions had become oppressive and destructive rather than beneficial to society.

Illich's philosophical and social theories were influenced by his experiences as a Catholic priest in New York City during the 1950s and later as a professor of philosophy in Puerto Rico and Germany. In his book, "Deschooling Society" (1971), he argued against the current educational system, advocating for self-directed learning and the dismantling of the institutional control over knowledge.

Another significant work of Illich was "Medical Nemesis" (1974), in which he criticized the medical profession and the detrimental effects caused by the overemphasis on medical interventions. He proposed the need for a more holistic approach to health and healing.

Ivan Illich's ideas were both praised and criticized for their radical nature and controversial viewpoints. He continued to write and speak about various social issues until his death in Bremen, Germany, on December 2, 2002. His contributions to critical social theory have left a lasting impact on fields such as education, healthcare, and social justice.

We must rediscover the distinction between hope and expectat

We must rediscover the distinction between hope and expectation.

Hope

At the moment of death I hope to be surprised.

At the moment of death I hope to be surprised.

Death

Healthy people are those who live in healthy homes on a heal

Healthy people are those who live in healthy homes on a healthy diet in an environment equally fit for birth, growth work, healing, and dying... Healthy people need no bureaucratic interference to mate, give birth, share the human condition and die.

Diet

Effective health care depends on self-care this fact is curr

Effective health care depends on self-care this fact is currently heralded as if it were a discovery.

Health

It takes more time and effort and delicacy to learn the sile

It takes more time and effort and delicacy to learn the silence of a people than to learn its sounds. Some people have a special gift for this. Perhaps this explains why some missionaries, notwithstanding their efforts, never come to speak properly, to communicate delicately through silences. Although they speak with the accent of natives they remain forever thousands of miles away. The learning of the grammar of silence is an art much more difficult to learn than the grammar of sounds.

Silence

School divides life into two segments, which are increasingl

School divides life into two segments, which are increasingly of comparable length. As much as anything else, schooling implies custodial care for persons who are declared undesirable elsewhere by the simple fact that a school has been built to serve them.

Education

There is no greater distance than that between a man in pray

There is no greater distance than that between a man in prayer and God.

Prayer

The public school has become the established church of secul

The public school has become the established church of secular society.

Education

Modern medicine is a negation of health. It isn't organized

Modern medicine is a negation of health. It isn't organized to serve human health, but only itself, as an institution. It makes more people sick than it heals.

Medicine

The compulsion to do good is an innate American trait. Only

The compulsion to do good is an innate American trait. Only North Americans seem to believe that they always should, may, and actually can choose somebody with whom to share their blessings. Ultimately this attitude leads to bombing people into the acceptance of gifts.

Goodness

Exporting Church employees to Latin America masks a universa

Exporting Church employees to Latin America masks a universal and unconscious fear of a new Church. North and South American authorities, differently motivated but equally fearful, become accomplices in maintaining a clerical and irrelevant Church. Sacralizing employees and property, this Church becomes progressively more blind to the possibilities of Sacralizing person and community.

Evangelism

Leadership does not depend on being right.

Leadership does not depend on being right.

Leadership