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Walter Benjamin on Retirement

1892–1940 Germany

← All quotes by Walter Benjamin

6 quotes

Nothing that has ever happened should be regarded as lost for history.

Theses on the Philosophy of History (1940)

Our image of happiness is indissolubly bound up with the image of the past.

Theses on the Philosophy of History (1940)

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)

This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past.

Theses on the Philosophy of History (1940)

There is a secret agreement between past generations and the present one. Our coming was expected on earth. Like every generation that preceded us, we have been endowed with a weak Messianic power, a power to which the past has a claim. That claim cannot be settled cheaply.

Theses on the Philosophy of History (1940)

Nothing is so hateful to the philistine as the "dreams of his youth." ... For what appeared to him in his dreams was the voice of the spirit, calling him once, as it does everyone. It is of this that youth always reminds him, eternally and ominously. That is why he is antagonistic toward youth.

Experience (1913)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Walter Benjamin (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.