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

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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.

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.

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.

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...

All disgust is originally disgust at touching.

All disgust is originally disgust at touching.

All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation.

All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation.

Counsel woven into the fabric of real life is wisdom.

Counsel woven into the fabric of real life is wisdom.

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...

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.

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...

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 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...

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...

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.