There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism. Walter Benjamin More Quotes by Walter Benjamin More Quotes From Walter Benjamin The Messiah comes not only as the redeemer, he comes as the subduer of Antichrist. Only that historian will have the gift of fanning the spark of hope in the past who is firmly convinced that even the dead will not be safe from the enemy if he wins. And this enemy has not ceased to be victorious. Walter Benjamin winningenemypast What has been forgotten is never something purely individual. Everything forgotten mingles with what has been forgotten of the prehistoric world, forms countless, uncertain, changing compounds, yielding a constant flow of new, strange products. Walter Benjamin individualhas-beensforgotten It is the task of the translator to release in his own language that pure language that is under the spell of another, to liberate the language imprisoned in a work in his re-creation of that work. Walter Benjamin creationtaskslanguage Living substance conquers the frenzy of destruction only in the ecstasy of procreation. Walter Benjamin conquerdestructionsubstance To the lover the loved one always appears as solitary. Walter Benjamin solitarydreamlove As Hegel put it, only when it is dark does the owl of Minerva begin its flight. Only in extinction is the collector comprehend. Walter Benjamin darkdoeowl [Photography] has become more and more subtle, more and more modern, and the result is that it is now incapable of photographing a tenement or a rubbish heap without transfiguring it. Not to mention a river dam or electric cable factory: in front of these, photography can now only say, How beautiful! Walter Benjamin photographyriversbeautiful Rather than ask, What is the attitude of a work to the relations of production of its time? I should like to ask, What is its position in them. Walter Benjamin shouldrelationattitude Opinions are a private matter. The public has an interest only in judgments. Walter Benjamin public-opinionjudgingmatter Kitsch offers instantaneous emotional gratification without intellectual effort, without the requirement of distance, wihtout sublimation. Walter Benjamin distanceeffortemotional Experience has taught me that the shallowest of communist platitudes contains more of a hierarchy of meaning than contemporary bourgeois profundity. Walter Benjamin hierarchytaughtcommunism Melancholy betrays the world for the sake of knowledge. But in its tenacious self-absorption it embraces dead objects in its contemplation, in order to redeem them Walter Benjamin selforderworld A blind determination to save the prestige of personal existence, rather than, through an impartial disdain for its impotence and entanglement, at least to detach it from the background of universal delusion, is triumphing almost everywhere. Walter Benjamin growthblinddetermination There is no muse of philosophy, nor is there one of translation. Walter Benjamin musetranslationsphilosophy I would like to metamorphose into a mouse-mountain. Walter Benjamin micemountain The distracted person, too, can form habits. Walter Benjamin distractedhabitform In the world's structure dream loosens individuality like a bad tooth. Walter Benjamin teethindividualitydream For only that which we knew and practiced at age 15 will one day constitute our attraction. And one thing, therefore, can never be made good: having neglected to run away from home. Walter Benjamin agehomerunning No poem is intended for the reader, no picture for the beholder, no symphony for the listener. Walter Benjamin beholdersymphonyreader The good tidings which the historian of the past brings with throbbing heart may be lost in a void the very moment he opens his mouth. Walter Benjamin mouthsheartpast
