Jacques Ellul

“The fact of knowing how to read is nothing, the whole point is knowing what to read.”

“No matter what God's power may be, the first aspect of God is never that of the absolute Master, the Almighty. It is that of the God who puts himself on our human level and limits himself.”

“Our civilization is first and foremost a civilization of means; in the reality of modern life, the means, it would seem, are more important than the ends. Any other assessment of the situati...”

“The goal of modern propaganda is no longer to transform opinion but to arouse an active and mythical belief.”

“For the word is dialectical in itself and at the same time is integrated into the whole of existence. By this I mean that the word is intended to be lived.”

“It is the emergence of mass media which makes possible the use of propaganda techniques on a societal scale.”

“Prayer holds together the shattered fragments of the creation. It makes history possible.”

“Modern technology has become a total phenomenon for civilization, the defining force of a new social order in which efficiency is no longer an option but a necessity imposed on all human act...”

“All human language draws its nature and value from the fact that it both comes from the Word of God and is chosen by God to manifest himself. But this relationship is secret and incomprehens...”

“Mass media provides the essential link between the individual and the demands of the technological society.”

“The orchestration of press, radio and television to create a continuous, lasting and total environment renders the influence of propaganda virtually unnoticed precisely because it creates a...”

“In sum, thought and reflection have been rendered thoroughly pointless by the circumstances in which modern men and women live and act.”

“Thinking has become a superfluous exercise... purely internal, without compelling force, more or less a game.”