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

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.

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

Books and harlots have their quarrels in public.

Books and harlots have their quarrels in public.

It is only for the sake of those without hope that hope is given to...

It is only for the sake of those without hope that hope is given to...

All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation.

All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation.

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...

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.

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

When a writer knows home in his heart, his heart must remain subtly apart from...

When a writer knows home in his heart, his heart must remain subtly apart from...

Writers don't write, they read and transcribe.

Writers don't write, they read and transcribe.