Freedom would be not to choose between black and white but to abjure such prescribed choices.

Quote by Theodor Adorno

Topics: Theodor Adorno Quotes

Technology is making gestures precise and brutal, and with them men.

Technology is making gestures precise and brutal, and with them men.

Wrong life cannot be lived rightly.

Wrong life cannot be lived rightly.

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...

In the abstract conception of universal wrong, all concrete responsibility vanishes.

In the abstract conception of universal wrong, all concrete responsibility vanishes.

True thoughts are those alone which do not understand themselves.

True thoughts are those alone which do not understand themselves.

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...

Advice to intellectuals: let no-one represent you.

Advice to intellectuals: let no-one represent you.

Truth is inseperable from the illusory belief that from the figures of the unreal one...

Truth is inseperable from the illusory belief that from the figures of the unreal one...

Thinking no longer means anymore than checking at each moment whether one can indeed think.

Thinking no longer means anymore than checking at each moment whether one can indeed think.

He who has laughter on his side has no need of proof.

He who has laughter on his side has no need of proof.

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.

History does not merely touch on language, but takes place in it.

History does not merely touch on language, but takes place in it.

Not only is the self entwined in society; it owes society its existence in the...

Not only is the self entwined in society; it owes society its existence in the...

Tact is the discrimination of differences. It consists in conscious deviations.

Tact is the discrimination of differences. It consists in conscious deviations.

For a man who no longer has a homeland, writing becomes a place to live.

For a man who no longer has a homeland, writing becomes a place to live.

The splinter in your eye is the best magnifying-glass.

The splinter in your eye is the best magnifying-glass.

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...

A German is someone who cannot tell a lie without believing it himself.

A German is someone who cannot tell a lie without believing it himself.

Fascism is itself less 'ideological', in so far as it openly proclaims the principle of...

Fascism is itself less 'ideological', in so far as it openly proclaims the principle of...

In his state of complete powerlessness the individual perceives the time he has left to...

In his state of complete powerlessness the individual perceives the time he has left to...