19 extraordinary phrases by Jacques Lacan

Many of Jacques Lacan’s phrases are a reflection of his theory. One of the most complex, profound and interesting perspectives of the 20th century.

Lacan was a French doctor, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who departed from orthodox psychoanalysis. Although he always said that his thesis was a return to Sigmund Freud, Lacan introduced new elements such as the theory of language and mathematics.

By its very nature, psychoanalysis is not a doctrine, nor a monolithic theory. Some claim that there are so many approaches to psychoanalysis as psychoanalysts. Even so, throughout history different schools such as the Lacanian one have been formed.

To this day, Lacanian psychoanalysis continues to give something to talk about.. It is, without a doubt, one of the most controversial in history. Also one of the most suggestive and admirable. We probably still don’t fully understand it. However, it is worth bringing up some of Jacques Lacan’s phrases that condense part of his thinking. These are some of them.

1. Truth and deception

Lacan has apparently contradictory phrases like the following: “The truth is the error that escapes deception and is achieved from a misunderstanding”. For this thinker, what circulates daily among people is not the truth. It is not that each person intends to deceive others, but that he does not know his own truth. That’s why he can’t express it.

However, there are times when the truth “escapes,” so to speak. When a mistake is made, for example. Or when you speak without thinking. Apparently, this is the product of a mistake and gives rise to a misunderstanding, but In reality, it is the truth opening step by step and giving light to the situation.

2. The unconscious and language

Jacques Lacan was strongly influenced by the theory of language, very popular in the mid-20th century. To Freud’s classic psychoanalysis, Lacan introduced purely linguistic concepts. One of the most important is: “The structure of the unconscious It is similar to a language”.

For Lacan, the unconscious functions as if it were a language. This means that To know and understand it, guidelines similar to those that would be used to decipher a language must be used.. For example, dreams should be interpreted as metaphors or metonyms.

3. One of the most enigmatic phrases by Jacques Lacan

Love is one of the most recurring themes in Jacques Lacan’s phrases. His perspective on the matter is enigmatic and at the same time fascinating. One of his best-known sentences says: “To love is to give what you don’t have to someone you don’t have.”.

For Lacan, Love, like much of what we call “reality,” is a mistake.. Among those who love each other there is a promise that is actually false: to complement each other, to give each other happiness. Although this commitment is not explicitly stated, it shines in the background of romantic relationships. That’s why Lacan says that you give what you don’t have.

At the same time, the other person does not perceive himself in a real way. Properties that respond to unconscious needs or brands are assigned to that other. We do not really love that other person, but rather the image we form of him, to our desires and shortcomings. That’s why he concludes by saying that he loves someone who “is not.”

4. Love and self-betrayal

Love in Lacan is, above all, a type of bond that is born from the word. If there is no word, what exists is falling in love. That is, an imaginary fascination. While sexual desire turns the other into an object of satisfaction, love transcends it. It addresses the other as a being, not as an object.

One loves, then, the being of the other. His faults and weaknesses are accepted. When it transcends the simple desire to be loved by another, love becomes an active gift. However, this love also has a limit, which is established in one of Jacques Lacan’s phrases: “When the loved one goes too far in self-betrayal and perseveres in self-deception, love no longer follows.”.

When there is love, you love the being of the other. That being constantly betrays itself and still continues to love itself. However, when this betrayal goes too far, to the point that the being is disfigured, the feeling disappears. In other words, it stop loving someone who betrays himselfis deceived and stops being that person whom we have loved.

5. Another of Jacques Lacan’s powerful phrases

One of Jacques Lacan’s phrases says the following: “I ask you to reject what I offer you because that is not it.”. This sentence refers mainly to the relationship between a psychoanalyst and his patient. Lacan did not call him “patient”, but rather “analyser”, given that his position was active within psychoanalysis.

The analysand is not fully aware of what he is going to look for in a psychoanalysis. The link with the psychoanalyst takes different forms throughout the process. The words that this analysand says are not those that describe his truth. And those words are what he offers in that process.

The phrase, therefore, has to do with the ethical position of the psychoanalyst. Your thing is to reject what the analysand offers. That is, a mistake. This is one of Jacques Lacan’s phrases that alludes to the psychoanalytic process and frames it, above all, as an ethical terrain.

6. Guilt and desire

Jacques Lacan’s sentences are not designed to facilitate readers’ understanding. That’s why many of them are convoluted and seem airtight. Most do not allow a literal analysis, but rather suggest or refer to other meanings.

“Only those who gave in their wish feel guilty.” It is one of those phrases by Jacques Lacan that has been interpreted in various ways. To understand this sentence we must first say that for Lacan, on one side of the coin there is guilt and on the other there is responsibility. Guilt is a reproach of the “super ego”, that irrational consciousness of duty. Responsibility is, above all, awareness of the subject’s true desire.

Therefore, what this phrase means is that As long as you are not aware of the desire, guilt will always appear. Recognizing what you really want is an act of responsibility. If one takes responsibility for his desire, he does not deny or give in, the consequence being the disappearance of guilt.

7. About fidelity

Fidelity is an eternal theme. Among the phrases by Jaques Lacan that refer to the subject, there is a text that is very telling about it: “Can there be anything that justifies fidelity other than the pledged word? However, the pledged word is often pledged lightly. If it were not pawned like this, it is likely that it would be pawned much more rarely.”.

The word is the central axis in all of Lacan’s theory. In this case, directly links fidelity to the word. It seems to suggest that this loving fidelity is neither natural nor spontaneous. On the contrary, it is only founded or begins to exist if the commitment to be faithful is acquired through the word.

The couple should not assume that fidelity is a natural part of the relationship. Nor is it reasonable for him to pledge his word to be faithful, if he does not first analyze the real possibilities of fulfilling it..

8. Lack and love

Jacques Lacan says: “You can love someone not only for what they have, but literally for what they lack.”. Love is directed to the integral being of the other. To its particularity. To everything that is and also to everything that is missing. You don’t love “in pieces” or in parts. The feeling is experienced throughout the other’s being.

In Lacan’s phrase the key word is “literally.” In principle, this refers to sexual differentiation of both genders. Men have what women physically lack: the phallus. At the same time, men do not have what women do have: her anatomy, her ability to harbor pregnancy.

Therefore, one literally loves the lack of the other. The man to the woman, because she does not have a phallus, in physical terms. The woman loves the man because he lacks what she does have. Although this explanation can be transferred to the symbolic level as well.

9. Art in Lacan

Art is another of the frequent themes in Lacan’s theory. For psychoanalysis, the only unconscious defense mechanism that is successful is sublimation. Through it, instinctive impulses are transformed into valid cultural products. Art, science and all creative activity are the fruit of sublimation.

Regarding art, Lacan points out: “All art is characterized by a certain mode of organization around a void”. This means that what is sublimated escapes consciousness. We really don’t know what it is. It is something that is inexpressible in words. A void around which creation is organized.

Other notable phrases by Lacan

“It’s not you, it’s what my desire invents in you.” “When we are faced with something impossible, there is only one way: do it. The impossible is to be done, it is not to be promised, of course it has a requirement: Not to retreat from the impossible desire that inhabits us.” “The analyst is not the one who knows, the analysand is the one who knows.” “The only thing we talk about” “Every relationship is based on a certain relationship between two unconscious knowledges.” “It is true only to the extent that we follow it.” If there is an object of your desire, it is none other than yourself.” “Love is basically wanting to be loved.” “We are beings with the capacity to desire but always incomplete, that is where our journey arises.”

Although Jacques Lacan’s phrases, as well as his entire theory, are certainly not easy to understand, they contain profound knowledge. This has been a modest attempt to penetrate those enigmasbut of course it fails to elucidate one of the most brilliant approaches to the human mind.

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