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

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...

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...

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.

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...

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...

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 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 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...

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.

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.

Books and harlots have their quarrels in public.

Books and harlots have their quarrels in public.

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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.

All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation.

All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation.

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...