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.

Quote by Walter Benjamin

Topics: Walter Benjamin Quotes

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...

All disgust is originally disgust at touching.

All disgust is originally disgust at touching.

Quotations in my work are like wayside robbers who leap out armed and relieve the...

Quotations in my work are like wayside robbers who leap out armed and relieve the...

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.

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,...

Gifts must affect the receiver to the point of shock.

Gifts must affect the receiver to the point of shock.

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 adjustment of reality to the masses and of the masses to reality is a...

The adjustment of reality to the masses and of the masses to reality is a...

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

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

All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation.

All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation.

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.

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...

Work on good prose has three steps: a musical stage when it is composed, an...

Work on good prose has three steps: a musical stage when it is composed, an...

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.

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...

There is nothing like an odor to stir memories.

There is nothing like an odor to stir memories.

He reminds me of the man who murdered both his parents, and then when sentence...

He reminds me of the man who murdered both his parents, and then when sentence...

The memory of that scene for me is like a frame of film forever frozen...

The memory of that scene for me is like a frame of film forever frozen...