Walter Benjamin Quotes


These are days when no one should rely unduly on his competence. Strength lies in improvisation. All the decisive blows are struck left-handed. Walter Benjamin Apathy 109
Nothing is poorer than a truth expressed as it was thought. Committed to writing in such cases, it is not even a bad photograph. Truth wants to be startled abruptly, at one stroke, from her self-immersion, whether by uproar, music or cries for help. Walter Benjamin Truth 99
The camera introduces us to unconscious optics as does psychoanalysis to unconscious impulses. Walter Benjamin Photography 95
The art of the critic in a nutshell: to coin slogans without betraying ideas. The slogans of an inadequate criticism peddle ideas to fashion. Walter Benjamin Criticism 90
Quotations in my work are like wayside robbers who leap out armed and relieve the stroller of his conviction. Walter Benjamin Quotations 89
The work of memory collapses time. Walter Benjamin Memory 88
Books and harlots have their quarrels in public. Walter Benjamin Argument 88
What matters for the dialectician is having the wind of world history in his sails. Thinking for him means to set the sails. It is the way they are set that matters. Words are his sails. The way they are set turns them into concepts. Walter Benjamin Thinking 85
We have long forgotten the ritual by which the house of our life was erected. But when it is under assault and enemy bombs are already taking their toll, what enervated, perverse antiquities do they not lay bare in the foundations. Walter Benjamin Life 85
All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation. Walter Benjamin Form 84
Like ultraviolet rays memory shows to each man in the book of life a script that invisibly and prophetically glosses the text. Walter Benjamin Memory 83
What has been forgotten.... is never something purely individual. Walter Benjamin Memory 82
Death is the sanction of everything the story-teller can tell. He has borrowed his authority from death. Walter Benjamin death 81
All efforts to make politics aesthetic culminate in one thing war. Walter Benjamin War 81
All disgust is originally disgust at touching. Walter Benjamin Disgust 79
Separation penetrates the disappearing person like a pigment and steeps him in gentle radiance. Walter Benjamin Absence 79
Languages are not strangers to on another. Walter Benjamin Language 77
Opinions are to the vast apparatus of social existence what oil is to machines: one does not go up to a turbine and pour machine oil over it; one applies a little to hidden spindles and joints that one has to know. Walter Benjamin Opinion 76
The idea that happiness could have a share in beauty would be too much of a good thing. Walter Benjamin beauty 75
The destructive character lives from the feeling, not that life is worth living, but that suicide is not worth the trouble. Walter Benjamin Destruction 74
He who observes etiquette but objects to lying is like someone who dresses fashionably but wears no vest. Walter Benjamin Manners 73
Living substance conquers the frenzy of destruction only in the ecstasy of procreation. Walter Benjamin Birth 72
The greater the decrease in the social significance of an art form, the sharper the distinction between criticism and enjoyment by the public. The conventional is uncritically enjoyed, and the truly new is criticized with aversion. Walter Benjamin Art 67
Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience. A rustling in the leaves drives him away. Walter Benjamin Experience 64
The book borrower...proves himself to be an inveterate collector of books not so much by the fervor with which he guards his borrowed treasures...as by his failure to read these books. Walter Benjamin Books 62
Experience has taught me that the shallowest of communist platitudes contains more of a hierarchy of meaning than contemporary bourgeois profundity. Walter Benjamin Communism 62
Memory is not an instrument for exploring the past but its theatre. It is the medium of past experience, as the ground is the medium in which dead cities lie interred. Walter Benjamin Experience 59
All religions have honored the beggar. For he proves that in a matter at the same time as prosaic and holy, banal and regenerative as the giving of alms, intellect and morality, consistency and principles are miserably inadequate. Walter Benjamin Charity 56
Genuine polemics approach a book as lovingly as a cannibal spices a baby. Walter Benjamin Criticism 56
The construction of life is at present in the power of facts far more than convictions. Walter Benjamin Facts 55
As long as there is still one beggar around there will still be myth. Walter Benjamin Poverty 55
The true picture of the past flits by. The past can be seized only as an image which flashes up at the instant when it can be recognized and is never seen again. Walter Benjamin Past 55
The adjustment of reality to the masses and of the masses to reality is a process of unlimited scope, as much for thinking as for perception. Walter Benjamin Masses 53
Opinions are a private matter. The public has an interest only in judgments. Walter Benjamin Opinion 52
Work on a good piece of writing proceeds on three levels a musical one where it is composed an architectural one where it is constructed and finally a textile one where it is woven. Walter Benjamin Writing process 51
To be happy is to be able to become aware of oneself without fright. Walter Benjamin Perception 48
Of all the ways of acquiring books, writing them oneself is regarded as the most praiseworthy method. Writers are really people who write books not because they are poor, but because they are dissatisfied with the books which they could buy but do not like. Walter Benjamin Reading 45
Counsel woven into the fabric of real life is wisdom. Walter Benjamin Wisdom 44
It is precisely the purpose of the public opinion generated by the press to make the public incapable of judging, to insinuate into it the attitude of someone irresponsible, uninformed. Walter Benjamin Media 41
Gifts must affect the receiver to the point of shock. Walter Benjamin Charity 41
The film is the first art form capable of demonstrating how matter plays tricks on man. Walter Benjamin Film 39
Work on good prose has three steps: a musical stage when it is composed, an architectonic one when it is built, and a textile one when it is woven. Walter Benjamin Authors 37
Any order is a balancing act of extreme precariousness. Walter Benjamin Danger 35
The art of storytelling is reaching its end because the epic side of truth, wisdom, is dying out. Walter Benjamin Wisdom 34
Any translation which intends to perform a transmitting function cannot transmit anything but information -- hence, something inessential. This is the hallmark of bad translations. Walter Benjamin Translation 32
Writers are really people who write books not because they are poor but because they are dissatisfied with the books which they could buy but do not like. Walter Benjamin Writers 30
How many cities have revealed themselves to me in the marches I undertook in the pursuit of books! Walter Benjamin Uncategorized 29

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Walter Benjamin Quotes

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