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 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...

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.

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 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...

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...

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.

Books and harlots have their quarrels in public.

Books and harlots have their quarrels in public.

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...

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...

Counsel woven into the fabric of real life is wisdom.

Counsel woven into the fabric of real life is wisdom.

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...

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

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

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.

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,...

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...

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...

Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience. A rustling in the...

Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience. A rustling in the...