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.

Quote by Walter Benjamin

Topics: Memory Quotes

He who observes etiquette but objects to lying is like someone who dresses fashionably but...

He who observes etiquette but objects to lying is like someone who dresses fashionably but...

Gifts must affect the receiver to the point of shock.

Gifts must affect the receiver to the point of shock.

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

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

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

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

All disgust is originally disgust at touching.

All disgust is originally disgust at touching.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Opinions are to the vast apparatus of social existence what oil is to machines: one...

Opinions are to the vast apparatus of social existence what oil is to machines: one...

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

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

Memory is not an instrument for exploring the past but its theatre. It is the...

Memory is not an instrument for exploring the past but its theatre. It is the...

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

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

The true picture of the past flits by. The past can be seized only as...

The true picture of the past flits by. The past can be seized only as...

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

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

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

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

The greater the decrease in the social significance of an art form, the sharper the...

The greater the decrease in the social significance of an art form, the sharper the...

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

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

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

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

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

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