Judith Butler

Freedom is not simply the absence of constraint, but the capacity to act and to be recognized in one's actions.

The self is not a sovereign entity, but a relational one, always already implicated in a web of social relations.

The very act of naming can be an act of violence, foreclosing possibilities and imposing categories.

To resist is not simply to say 'no,' but to imagine and enact alternative ways of being in the world.

The public sphere is not a neutral space, but a contested terrain where norms are established and challenged.

To mourn is to acknowledge the irreplaceability of a life, to bear witness to its loss.

The question of who counts as human is always a political question.

The performative is not about individual intention, but about the social effects of language and action.

To be accountable is to be able to give an account of oneself, to narrate one's life in a way that is intelligible to others.

The subject is always already interpellated, called into being by the address of power.

Gender is a regulatory ideal that is never fully achieved, but constantly strived for.

The ethical demand is not to eliminate vulnerability, but to respond to it in a way that affirms life.

The body is not a static object, but a dynamic process of materialization.

To be recognized is to be given a certain kind of social existence, to be legible within a given framework.

The very possibility of political action depends on our capacity to assemble, to act in concert.

To live is to be exposed to the gaze of others, to be subject to their judgment and their recognition.

The norm is not simply repressive, but productive, shaping the very possibilities of what can be thought and done.

The self is not a private possession, but a public performance, constantly being enacted and re-enacted.

To be grievable is to be considered a life worth mourning, a life whose loss matters.

The political is not just about institutions, but about the ways in which bodies are made to matter, or not to matter.