François Gibault or the “supra-meaning” of words – say 33

His method often starts from the meaning(s) of the words, before evoking their behavior according to the context in which they are used. The goal: to reveal their “supra-meaning”, and sometimes to try to reach a pure and simple truth, which as Oscar Wilde said “ is is very rarely pure and never simple. »

Many quotes from his favorite authors as well: Céline, Patrick Besson, Apollinaire, Paul Morand, Alphonse Allais, from himself sometimes, or from figures like the painter Dubuffet or Clémenceau. “ All men have in their heads a personal dictionary made up of lies and truths, of discovered or invented quotations and small vulgarities which constitute the principal virtue of many books.. »

Here is a small sample, made up of often short definitions, listed in alphabetical order, which may make some people want to discover the terms enlightened by François Gibault:

Abscess : You have to kill them to avoid dying.

Adjective : “ The adjective fear is the beginning of the style. (Paul Claudel)

American : “ A compact block internally made of mortal hatreds, but externally unalterable, formed in each country by the ladies of the American colony. (Morand, Putney’s Night)

Clay : Probable ancestor of man.

Attached to the floor : Magistrate whose title is the most comical of the French magistracy.

Bide : Inedible brioche.

Cartoon: Distorting mirror that tells the truth.

Certainty : You just have to believe in things for them to exist.

Switch : The end of youth is when you stop changing your mind.

Bald : “ The wind that blows your hair leaves the bald of marble. » (A horse, a larkthe Round Table, 2000)

Way : All roads lead nowhere.

Civilization : “ The first man who threw an insult rather than a stone is the inventor of civilization. (Sigmund Freud)

Conformism : Galloping epidemic against which there is no vaccine.

unpack : Vomit in speech.

Decadence : A country that multiplies museums is necessarily in decline.

To desire : “ Where to find the strength to desire what we have. (Raphael Enthoven, The time saved)

Writer(s) : (…) Small lives, small works.

Fatality : What we believe we are doing voluntarily.

Vague : I have always liked vagueness, a cousin of doubt, closer to the truth than the affirmative, the definitive, the categorical.

Ugly : When a contemporary work isn’t ugly, it’s already not bad.

Freak : “ In the eyes of monsters, the normal is monstrous. John Steinbeck, East of Eden.

organ : Never forget that the function creates the organ. (Charles Darwin)

Nobody : Means both someone and nobody.

Poem : A poem should ring like bells.

Recognition : “ Men do not attach themselves to you because of the services we render them, but because of the services they render us. (Eugene Labiche, Mr. Perrichon)

Glance : “ We only see what we look at and we only look at what we already have in mind… (Celine, North)

Diet : There are several kinds, diets, banana diets and policies. The least bad of these is certainly democracy, but it is difficult to install overnight in countries that have known authoritarian regimes and sometimes for several centuries. It often takes several revolutions followed by coups to allow democracy to take hold. The history of France is a perfect illustration of this, which does not prevent this nation from giving moral lessons to the whole world.

Cultural Revolution : The least cultural of all revolutions.

Nothing : “ Anything can happen in life and especially nothing. ” (Michel Houellebecq)

Sacrifice : “ What we sacrifice always enriches what we have chosen. (Julien Green, LogMay 15, 1934)

Sobs : “ Desperate songs are the most beautiful songs. I know some immortals who are pure sobs. For a long time I attributed these two very beautiful Alexandrians to Hugo, but they are by Musset.

Wizard : In Africa, we believe perhaps too much in witchcraft, not enough in Europe. The Goddess of Reason has great difficulty explaining many things, transmissions of thoughts, premonitory dreams, lines of the hand, unheard-of chances, bewitchments, hypnosis, without forgetting love of course, and life itself.

Memory : When you don’t have one, you have to invent one.

Credits: Alexandre Moatti (CC BY-SA 4.0)