The quotations of

Walter Benjamin

German cultural critic, philosopher and social critic

1892–1940

9 quotes, most often on History.

A religion may be discerned in capitalism⁠—that is to say, capitalism serves essentially to allay the same anxieties, torments, and disturbances to which the so-called religions offered answers.
Translated by Rodney Livingstone in Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, Volume 1 (Harvard: 1996)
- Economics
- Religion
The art of storytelling is reaching its end because the epic side of truth, wisdom, is dying out.
“The Storyteller” (1936)
- Wisdom
- Writing
If sleep is the apogee of physical relaxation, boredom is the apogee of mental relaxation. Boredom is the dream bird that hatches the egg of experience.
“The Storyteller” (1936), p. 91
- Experience
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.
Theses on the Philosophy of History (1940), V
- History
- Time
There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism.
Theses on the Philosophy of History (1940), VII
- History
To articulate the past historically does not mean to recognize it ‘the way it really was’ (Ranke). It means to seize hold of a memory as it flashes up at a moment of danger.
Theses on the Philosophy of History (1940), VI
- History
Nothing that has ever happened should be regarded as lost for history.
Theses on the Philosophy of History (1940), III
- History
There is a secret agreement between past generations and the present one.
Theses on the Philosophy of History (1940), II
- History
The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the “state of emergency” in which we live is not the exception but the rule.
Theses on the Philosophy of History (1940), VIII
- History
- Politics

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