Levinas, Emmanuel

"The impossible is the only thing truly worthy of ethical thought."

"Death and birth mark the limits of totality in human existence."

"Love seeks the good of the Other, not the other's love in return."

"The ethical is not a moment to be overcome but the very structure of meaning."

"We are each others' witnesses before we are each others' judges."

"The other is not mine to know; the other escapes my grasp by his very nature."

"Responsibility is not a simple attribute, but the very structure of subjectivity."

"The face speaks to me and commands me before I can hear it."

"To be human is to be bound to the other by an infinite responsibility."

"The encounter with the other is the beginning of all ethics."

"Language is not a neutral tool; it emerges from the ethical relation with the other."

"I am responsible for the other even before knowing who they are."

"The face of the widow, the orphan, and the stranger demands justice."

"Consciousness itself is a form of vulnerability to the other."

"The other's vulnerability is the source of my ethical obligation."

"Being is not the first philosophy; ethics is the first philosophy."

"Hospitality is not a choice but an obligation that precedes all choice."

"The caress seeks what lies beyond the skin, beyond being itself."

"Infinity is not a measure but a transcendence that breaks all totality."

"The other calls me into question before I can question the other."

"Transcendence begins when we recognize the absolute alterity of the other."

"The ethical relation is asymmetrical: I am more responsible than the other."

"Justice requires that I see the face of the other in every judgment."

"Time is not a container of events but the opening of the infinite."

"To say 'Here I am' is to accept infinite responsibility."

"The other is not my equal; the other is absolutely other."

"Egoism is not a flaw but the very condition of being a subject."

"The true is not what corresponds to reality but what opens us to the other."

"Suffering gains meaning only when we suffer with and for the other."

"The widow, the orphan, the stranger—these are the faces of the infinite."