Of all the ways of acquiring books, writing them oneself is regarded as the most praiseworthy method. Writers are really people who write books not because they are poor, but because they are dissatisfied with the books which they could buy but do not like.

All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation... 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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To be happy is to be able to become aware of oneself without fright... view

By: Walter Benjamin

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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... view

By: Walter Benjamin

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Work on good prose has three steps: a musical stage when it is composed, an architectonic one when it is built, and a textile one when it is woven... view

By: Walter Benjamin

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Books and harlots have their quarrels in public... 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 destructive character lives from the feeling, not that life is worth living, but that suicide is not worth the trouble... view

By: Walter Benjamin

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

By: Walter Benjamin

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

By: Walter Benjamin

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All disgust is originally disgust at touching... 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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