He who observes etiquette but objects to lying is like someone who dresses fashionably but wears no vest.

All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation... view

By: Walter Benjamin

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Books and harlots have their quarrels in public... view

By: Walter Benjamin

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The true picture of the past flits by. The past can be seized only as an image which flashes up at the instant when it can be recognized and is never seen again... view

By: Walter Benjamin

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The idea that happiness could have a share in beauty would be too much of a good thing... view

By: Walter Benjamin

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Counsel woven into the fabric of real life is wisdom... view

By: Walter Benjamin

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The only way of knowing a person is to love them without hope... view

By: Walter Benjamin

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To be happy is to be able to become aware of oneself without fright... view

By: Walter Benjamin

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The construction of life is at present in the power of facts far more than convictions... view

By: Walter Benjamin

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It is precisely the purpose of the public opinion generated by the press to make the public incapable of judging, to insinuate into it the attitude of someone irresponsible, uninformed... view

By: Walter Benjamin

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The camera introduces us to unconscious optics as does psychoanalysis to unconscious impulses... view

By: Walter Benjamin

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The art of the critic in a nutshell: to coin slogans without betraying ideas. The slogans of an inadequate criticism peddle ideas to fashion... view

By: Walter Benjamin

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Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience. A rustling in the leaves drives him away... view

By: Walter Benjamin

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