Walter Benjamin quote: "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."

Gifts must affect the receiver to the point of shock.
WALTER BENJAMIN

Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector's passion borders on the chaos of memori...
WALTER BENJAMIN

All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation.
WALTER BENJAMIN

All disgust is originally disgust at touching.
WALTER BENJAMIN

There is no document of civilization that is not also a document of barbarism.
WALTER BENJAMIN

Counsel woven into the fabric of real life is wisdom.
WALTER BENJAMIN

We have long forgotten the ritual by which the house of our life was erected. But when it is under a...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Work on good prose has three steps: a musical stage when it is composed, an architectonic one when i...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Death is the sanction of everything the story-teller can tell. He has borrowed his authority from de...
WALTER BENJAMIN

The art of storytelling is reaching its end because the epic side of truth, wisdom, is dying out.
WALTER BENJAMIN

Any translation which intends to perform a transmitting function cannot transmit anything but inform...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector's passion borders on the chaos of memories.
WALTER BENJAMIN

The camera introduces us to unconscious optics as does psychoanalysis to unconscious impulses.
WALTER BENJAMIN

To be happy is to be able to become aware of oneself without fright.
WALTER BENJAMIN

The true picture of the past flits by. The past can be seized only as an image which flashes up at t...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Memory is not an instrument for exploring the past but its theatre. It is the medium of past experie...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Like ultraviolet rays memory shows to each man in the book of life a script that invisibly and proph...
WALTER BENJAMIN

It is precisely the purpose of the public opinion generated by the press to make the public incapabl...
WALTER BENJAMIN

He who seeks to approach his own buried past must conduct himself like a man digging. He must not be...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Opinions are a private matter. The public has an interest only in judgments.
WALTER BENJAMIN

The destructive character lives from the feeling, not that life is worth living, but that suicide is...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Taking food alone tends to make one hard and coarse. Those accustomed to it must lead a Spartan life...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Reminiscences, even extensive ones, do not always amount to an autobiography. For autobiography has ...
WALTER BENJAMIN

The construction of life is at present in the power of facts far more than convictions.
WALTER BENJAMIN

Only he who can view his own past as an abortion sprung from compulsion and need can use it to full ...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Quotations in my work are like wayside robbers who leap out armed and relieve the stroller of his co...
WALTER BENJAMIN

He who asks fortune-tellers the future unwittingly forfeits an inner intimation of coming events tha...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Not to find one's way in a city may well be uninteresting and banal. It requires ignorance -- nothin...
WALTER BENJAMIN

All religions have honored the beggar. For he proves that in a matter at the same time as prosaic an...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience. A rustling in the leaves drives him aw...
WALTER BENJAMIN

The only way of knowing a person is to love them without hope.
WALTER BENJAMIN

The book borrower...proves himself to be an inveterate collector of books not so much by the fervor ...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Living substance conquers the frenzy of destruction only in the ecstasy of procreation.
WALTER BENJAMIN

The idea that happiness could have a share in beauty would be too much of a good thing.
WALTER BENJAMIN

Books and harlots have their quarrels in public.
WALTER BENJAMIN

These are days when no one should rely unduly on his competence. Strength lies in improvisation. All...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Separation penetrates the disappearing person like a pigment and steeps him in gentle radiance.
WALTER BENJAMIN

Genuine polemics approach a book as lovingly as a cannibal spices a baby.
WALTER BENJAMIN

The art of the critic in a nutshell: to coin slogans without betraying ideas. The slogans of an inad...
WALTER BENJAMIN

The power of a text is different when it is read from when it is copied out. Only the copied text th...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Experience has taught me that the shallowest of communist platitudes contains more of a hierarchy of...
WALTER BENJAMIN

These are days when no one should rely unduly on his "competence." Strength lies in improvisation. A...
WALTER BENJAMIN

These are days when no one should rely unduly on his "competence." Strength lies in improvisation. ...
WALTER BENJAMIN

To be happy is to be able to become aware of oneself without fright.
WALTER BENJAMIN

The adjustment of reality to the masses and of the masses to reality is a process of unlimited scope...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Of all the ways of acquiring books, writing them oneself is regarded as the most praiseworthy method...
WALTER BENJAMIN

He who observes etiquette but objects to lying is like someone who dresses fashionably but wears no ...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Opinions are to the vast apparatus of social existence what oil is to machines: one does not go up t...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Nothing is poorer than a truth expressed as it was thought. Committed to writing in such cases, it i...
WALTER BENJAMIN

To do justice to the figure of Kafka in its purity and its peculiar beauty one must never lose sight...
WALTER BENJAMIN

It is only for the sake of those without hope that hope is given to us.
WALTER BENJAMIN

Languages are not strangers to on another.
WALTER BENJAMIN

Each morning the day lies like a fresh shirt on our bed; this incomparably fine, incomparably tightl...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Work on a good piece of writing proceeds on three levels: a musical one, where it is composed; an ar...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Painting, by its nature, cannot provide an object of simultaneous collective reception... as film is...
WALTER BENJAMIN

There is no document of civilization that is not at the same time a document of barbarism.
WALTER BENJAMIN

The only historian capable of fanning the spark of hope in the past is the one who is firmly convinc...
WALTER BENJAMIN

In other words, the unique value of the 'authentic' work of art has its basis in ritual, the locatio...
WALTER BENJAMIN

No more semblance or disemblance, no more God or Man, only an immanent logic of the principle of ope...
WALTER BENJAMIN

Our image of happiness is indissolubly bound up with the image of redemption.
WALTER BENJAMIN

It is only for those without hope that hope is given.
WALTER BENJAMIN

A Klee painting named 'Angelus Novus' shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from...
WALTER BENJAMIN

The fairy tale, which to this day is the first tutor of children because it was once the first tutor...
WALTER BENJAMIN

As long as there is still one beggar around, there will still be myth.
WALTER BENJAMIN

It is the task of the translator to release in his own language that pure language that is under the...
WALTER BENJAMIN

What matters for the dialectician is having the wind of world history in his sails. Thinking for him...
WALTER BENJAMIN

America's health care system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system.
WALTER CRONKITE

I look forward to making tangible and inspirational contributions to the Houston Technology Center&#...
WALTER O'BRIEN

I can never believe how much time and energy and money and talent and everything else is being poure...
WALTER BECKER

There are some things that I write that I know are personal in a way, or the gag is so obscure that ...
WALTER BECKER

We have been fortunate enough to do something that has always been out of the mainstream and yet hav...
WALTER BECKER

All our wives are experimental psychologists.
WALTER BECKER

If there's a strange way to do something, I would certainly like to know about it. I feel that I...
WALTER BECKER

I always look for the weirdest note to land on. I felt that that was the least I could do for the gr...
WALTER BECKER

From a linguistic point of view, you can't really take much objection to the notion that a show ...
WALTER BECKER

That's sort of what we wanted to do: conquer from the margins, sort of find our place in the mid...
WALTER BECKER

You have a kid, and it's like, 'He's gotta go to college! Gotta have some clothes!'
WALTER BECKER

'8 Miles to Pancake Day' is a reconciliation of the classic space-time dilemma.
WALTER BECKER

It seemed like the more complex the music we were playing, the less able we were to guarantee its co...
WALTER BECKER

There was a film called 'FM,' and we were asked to do the title song. And I said, 'Does ...
WALTER BECKER

'Deacon Blues' was special for me. It's the only time I remember mixing a record all day...
WALTER BECKER

The protagonist in 'Deacon Blues' is a triple-L loser - an L-L-L Loser. It's not so much...
WALTER BECKER

There's a great freedom in writing by yourself. You can write anything you want.
WALTER BECKER

I spent a couple of years not doing any music or anything, just here in Hawaii trying to get healthy...
WALTER BECKER

I'm not interested in a rock/jazz fusion.
WALTER BECKER

It's great fun to play with a really good band.
WALTER BECKER

People are really exercised about one particular thing, and that is themselves. They will bore you e...
WALTER BECKER

Rock music is being systematically merged with fashion.
WALTER BECKER

Cynicism, I contend, is the wailing of someone who believes that things are, or should be, or could ...
WALTER BECKER

When you start to work with someone, there's a negotiation that takes place involving what's...
WALTER BECKER

My primary influences were the best jazz players from the 50's and 60's and later some of th...
WALTER BECKER

I listen to a mixture of old jazz, contemporary, pop, some world beat stuff and various odds and end...
WALTER BECKER

I'm a self-taught musician aside from what I've been able to pick up from other players.
WALTER BECKER

Honor sinks where commerce long prevails.
WALTER BAGEHOT

You may talk of the tyranny of Nero and Tiberius; but the real tyranny is the tyranny of your next-d...
WALTER BAGEHOT

An influential member of parliament has not only to pay much money to become such, and to give time ...
WALTER BAGEHOT

No real English gentleman, in his secret soul, was ever sorry for the death of a political economist...
WALTER BAGEHOT

The being without an opinion is so painful to human nature that most people will leap to a hasty opi...
WALTER BAGEHOT

No great work has ever been produced except after a long interval of still and musing meditation.
WALTER BAGEHOT

Public opinion is a permeating influence, and it exacts obedience to itself; it requires us to drink...
WALTER BAGEHOT

The habit of common and continuous speech is a symptom of mental deficiency. It proceeds from not kn...
WALTER BAGEHOT

All the best stories in the world are but one story in reality - the story of escape. It is the only...
WALTER BAGEHOT

Life is a school of probability.
WALTER BAGEHOT

It is unsound for an independent editor to be a financial contributor to any cause which would cause...
WALTER ANNENBERG

I have very little respect for Nancy Reagan. There is something about her that is very petty.
WALTER ANNENBERG

I cannot compromise or inhibit my independence.
WALTER ANNENBERG

Your Majesty, I took the liberty because I was so desirous of visiting alone with you for a few minu...
WALTER ANNENBERG

God grant you the strength to fight off the temptations of surrender.
WALTER ANNENBERG

You will not be satisfied unless you are contributing something to or for the benefit of others.
WALTER ANNENBERG

What matters is that you are doing what you think is right based on the standards which you hold.
WALTER ANNENBERG

The greatest happiness comes from being vitally interested in something that excites all your energi...
WALTER ANNENBERG

Live rich, die poor; never make the mistake of doing it the other way round.
WALTER ANNENBERG

I shall participate, I shall contribute, and in so doing, I will be the gainer.
WALTER ANNENBERG

Adversity tests us from time to time and it is inevitable that this testing continues during life.
WALTER ANNENBERG

Accomplish something every day of your life.
WALTER ANNENBERG

People who think about art as an investment are pathetic.
WALTER ANNENBERG

The test of character is having the ability to meet challenges.
WALTER ANNENBERG

In the world today, a young lady who does not have a college education just is not educated.
WALTER ANNENBERG

Never buy four C-plus paintings when you can buy one A.
WALTER ANNENBERG

My country has been very good to me; I must be good to my country.
WALTER ANNENBERG

Some people find an interest in making money, and though they appear to be slaving, many actually en...
WALTER ANNENBERG

Many activities and team play participation will give you a training that will prove invaluable late...
WALTER ANNENBERG

Too much work, too much vacation, too much of any one thing is unsound.
WALTER ANNENBERG

The greatest power is not money power, but political power.
WALTER ANNENBERG

I am responsible. Although I may not be able to prevent the worst from happening, I am responsible f...
WALTER ANDERSON

Good listeners, like precious gems, are to be treasured.
WALTER ANDERSON

We're never so vulnerable than when we trust someone - but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, ne...
WALTER ANDERSON

I'm not afraid to learn from my coaches.
WALTER ALSTON

I put myself through college playing pool.
WALTER ALSTON

I always liked Casey Stengel as a manager because he seemed to have a grasp of so many things.
WALTER ALSTON

The toughest thing about managing is knowing your personnel and what it can give you under all condi...
WALTER ALSTON

I do worry about tomorrow's game, but never about next year's job.
WALTER ALSTON

I've won plenty of games by knowing when to take out my pitcher; whom to replace him with; or ho...
WALTER ALSTON

I think for being not unsympathetic that their appearance may also appear, so differently it, must; ...
ULRICH WALTER

Every astronaut flew into space for a living. But while NASA has not solved the security problems, I...
ULRICH WALTER

Judgment comes from experience - and experience comes from bad judgment.
WALTER WRISTON

She's been on more laps than a napkin.
WALTER WINCHELL

Nothing recedes like success.
WALTER WINCHELL

Hollywood is where they shoot too many pictures and not enough actors.
WALTER WINCHELL

Broadway is a main artery of New York life - the hardened artery.
WALTER WINCHELL

The best way to get along is never to forgive an enemy or forget a friend.
WALTER WINCHELL

The only ones who like Milton Berle are his mother - and the public.
WALTER WINCHELL

Today's gossip is tomorrow's headline.
WALTER WINCHELL

I never lost a friend I wanted to keep.
WALTER WINCHELL

What I would like to be remembered for is that Walter Washington changed the spirit of the people of...
WALTER WASHINGTON

Mine has been a concern for the people, a concern to maintain stability, a concern to get people wor...
WALTER WASHINGTON

I passed the Bar on the first shot, But I have never practiced law.
WALTER WAGER

I always liked spy stories.
WALTER WAGER

I use the city because it saves time, I don't have to do a lot of research on the setting.
WALTER WAGER

In France, I learned about wine and cheese.
WALTER WAGER

I keep working under the delusion that someday a library will ask for my manuscripts.
WALTER WAGER

The government of the German Democratic Republic rejects secret policies. It works for the people, a...
WALTER ULBRICHT

May we soon enjoy the fruits of our labor in a peaceful and united Germany.
WALTER ULBRICHT

The nature of a democracy consists to an important degree in the right of the people to criticize pr...
WALTER ULBRICHT

The more you participate in our common endeavors, the more successful your work in the factory, mine...
WALTER ULBRICHT

The West German population would protest passionately if it knew what secret meetings between the fe...
WALTER ULBRICHT

When has there ever been a government in German history that came to the people and revealed its det...
WALTER ULBRICHT

The plan shows that the twenty million people in the German democratic Republic and in the democrati...
WALTER ULBRICHT

In the past, people worked together only when some great disaster threatened.
WALTER ULBRICHT

The success of each of us benefits us all, and the success of us all benefits each of us individuall...
WALTER ULBRICHT

Something new has happened: For the first time in German history our fatherland is guided by a plan ...
WALTER ULBRICHT

The guiding principle is not to manufacture the goods everyone needs, rather to earn profits for a f...
WALTER ULBRICHT

The victory of the working people over the exploiters and slave holders is at the same time the vict...
WALTER ULBRICHT

Let us show our fellow countrymen and the entire world what the Germans can do when they work for pe...
WALTER ULBRICHT

This hunger for profits causes great misery for the people.
WALTER ULBRICHT

It is the most important contribution we can make to speeding up reunification.
WALTER ULBRICHT

Let there be great enthusiasm for the plan throughout the entire republic that will overcome all obs...
WALTER ULBRICHT

Gifts fall from heaven only in fairy tales.
WALTER ULBRICHT

The Old Firm clubs are not easy clubs to manage and sometimes I think frustration comes in that, in ...
WALTER SMITH

There are people for whom Rangers Football Club is their entire way of life.
WALTER SMITH

From my own point of view, I hope everybody would realise that people who work in Scottish football ...
WALTER SMITH

Paper and ink are all but trash, if I cannot find the thought which the writer did think.
WALTER SMITH

I started out in Scotland, not as a footballer of any note, and I didn't play to draw the attent...
WALTER SMITH

If you can achieve winning a league championship, that, to me, is the full test of the team and mana...
WALTER SMITH

Whether people like it or not, you have to say the Old Firm are a major part of Scottish football. I...
WALTER SMITH

Our works decay and disappear but God gentlest works stay looking down on the ruins we toil to rear.
WALTER SMITH

The race of mankind would perish did they cease to aid each other. We cannot exist without mutual he...
WALTER SCOTT

He is the best sailor who can steer within fewest points of the wind, and exact a motive power out o...
WALTER SCOTT

A rusty nail placed near a faithful compass, will sway it from the truth, and wreck the argosy.
WALTER SCOTT

Teach your children poetry; it opens the mind, lends grace to wisdom and makes the heroic virtues he...
WALTER SCOTT

Faces that have charmed us the most escape us the soonest.
WALTER SCOTT

Success - keeping your mind awake and your desire asleep.
WALTER SCOTT

When thinking about companions gone, we feel ourselves doubly alone.
WALTER SCOTT

One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth wh...
WALTER SCOTT

Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, And men below, and saints above: For love is heaven, and ...
WALTER SCOTT

Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life.
WALTER SCOTT

Of all vices, drinking is the most incompatible with greatness.
WALTER SCOTT

To all, to each, a fair good-night, and pleasing dreams, and slumbers light.
WALTER SCOTT

What I have to say is far more important than how long my eyelashes are.
WALTER SCOTT

A lawyer without history or literature is a mechanic, a mere working mason; if he possesses some kno...
WALTER SCOTT

Success or failure in business is caused more by the mental attitude even than by mental capacities.
WALTER SCOTT

We build statues out of snow, and weep to see them melt.
WALTER SCOTT

Look back, and smile on perils past.
WALTER SCOTT

When I come to London, I always like to see what's playing at the NFT.
WALTER SALLES

We all knew the book well because it's the cult book in Latin America. For me, this was a sacred...
WALTER SALLES

The Sundance Institute has been vital to the film communities of Latin America.
WALTER SALLES

The other aspect is that you become much more aware of the structural problems that pertain to that ...
WALTER SALLES

The necessity to conceptualise has to come very early on, and defining a vector of development for t...
WALTER SALLES

The films that I've done before were original stories most of the time, I did two adaptations be...
WALTER SALLES

That's why I have always admired documentaries, because they open windows that can make you unde...
WALTER SALLES

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.

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Walter Benjamin

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

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