A pencil and rubber are of more use to thought than a battalion of assistants. To happiness the same applies as to truth: one does not have it, but is in it.

Quote by Theodor Adorno

Topics: Theodor Adorno Quotes

Wrong life cannot be lived rightly.

Wrong life cannot be lived rightly.

Advice to intellectuals: let no-one represent you.

Advice to intellectuals: let no-one represent you.

He who stands aloof runs the risk of believing himself better than others and misusing...

He who stands aloof runs the risk of believing himself better than others and misusing...

The hardest hit, as everywhere, are those who have no choice.

The hardest hit, as everywhere, are those who have no choice.

The specific is not exclusive: it lacks the aspiration to totality.

The specific is not exclusive: it lacks the aspiration to totality.

Quality is decided by the depth at which the work incorporates the alternatives within itself,...

Quality is decided by the depth at which the work incorporates the alternatives within itself,...

The task of art today is to bring chaos into order.

The task of art today is to bring chaos into order.

Art is permitted to survive only if it renounces the right to be different, and...

Art is permitted to survive only if it renounces the right to be different, and...

The human is indissolubly linked with imitation: a human being only becomes human at all...

The human is indissolubly linked with imitation: a human being only becomes human at all...

Modernity is a qualitative, not a chronological, category.

Modernity is a qualitative, not a chronological, category.

The whole is the false.

The whole is the false.

Work while you work, play while you play - this is a basic rule of...

Work while you work, play while you play - this is a basic rule of...

The gods look in pleasure on penitent sinners.

The gods look in pleasure on penitent sinners.

Life has become the ideology of its own absence.

Life has become the ideology of its own absence.

When all actions are mathematically calculated, they also take on a stupid quality.

When all actions are mathematically calculated, they also take on a stupid quality.

Today self-consciousness no longer means anything but reflection on the ego as embarrassment, as realization...

Today self-consciousness no longer means anything but reflection on the ego as embarrassment, as realization...

He who integrates is lost.

He who integrates is lost.

The poor are prevented from thinking by the discipline of others, the rich by their...

The poor are prevented from thinking by the discipline of others, the rich by their...

Domination delegates the physical violence on which it rests to the dominated.

Domination delegates the physical violence on which it rests to the dominated.

The individual mirrors in his individuation the preordained social laws of exploitation, however mediated.

The individual mirrors in his individuation the preordained social laws of exploitation, however mediated.