Living substance conquers the frenzy of destruction only in the ecstasy of procreation.
Walter BenjaminRead
Allegories are, in the realm of thought, what ruins are in the realm of things.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Allegories reflect truths similarly to how ruins embody the remnants of the past.
Walter Benjamin's quote suggests that allegories serve as a representation of deeper ideas and concepts in the mind, akin to ruins that provide insight into former structures and civilizations. Just as ruins are vestiges of history that hint at the grandeur of what once was, allegories encapsulate complex thoughts and moral insights, inviting reflection and understanding of the human experience.
Themes
AllegoryThoughtRuinsPhilosophyMeaning
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on literary analysis, I might use this quote to illustrate the importance of allegory in understanding deeper themes.
More from Walter Benjamin
All quotes →The illiterate of the future will not be the man who cannot read the alphabet, but the one who cannot take a photograph.
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If mythic violence is lawmaking, divine violence is law-destroying; if the former sets boundaries, the latter boundlessly destroys them; if mythic violence brings at once guilt and retribution, divine power only expiates; if the former threatens, the latter strikes; if the former is bloody, the latter is lethal without spilling blood
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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.
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Nothing is poorer than a truth expressed as it was thought. Committed to writing in such cases, it is not even a bad photograph. Truth wants to be startled abruptly, at one stroke, from her self-immersion, whether by uproar, music or cries for help.
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I am unpacking my library. Yes I am. The books are not yet on the shelves, not yet touched by the mild boredom of order.
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The harp that once through Tara's halls The soul of music shed, Now hangs as mute on Tara's walls As if that soul were fled. So sleeps the pride of former days, So glory's thrill is o'er; And hearts that once beat high for praise Now feel that pulse no more.
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Like the British Constitution, she owes her success in practice to her inconsistencies in principle.
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You can find the entire cosmos lurking in its least remarkable objects.
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