Living substance conquers the frenzy of destruction only in the ecstasy of procreation.
Walter BenjaminRead
The concept of progress must be grounded in the idea of catastrophe. That things are 'status quo' is the catastrophe
Interpretation
What this quote means
Progress arises from recognizing and addressing the disasters of the present situation.
Walter Benjamin suggests that the notion of progress cannot be divorced from the understanding of the crises and catastrophes that persist in society. When we accept the current state of affairs as normal or complacent, we inadvertently hinder true progress; instead, acknowledging the catastrophes of our time can drive meaningful change and innovation.
Themes
ProgressCatastropheChangeStatus QuoInnovation
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about social reform, one might say, 'As Walter Benjamin stated, the concept of progress must acknowledge the catastrophes we face today.'
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.
Walter BenjaminRead
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.
Walter BenjaminRead
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.
Walter BenjaminRead
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The strong are strengthened by reverses; the trouble is that the true meaning of events scores next to nothing in the match we play with men. Appearances decide our gains or losses and the points are trumpery. And a mere semblance of defeat may hopelessly checkmate us.
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The world of employer and employee, like that of master and slave, debases both.
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A thousand fantasies Begin to throng into my memory, Of calling shapes, and beckoning shadows dire, And airy tongues that syllable men's names On sands and shores and desert wildernesses
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My father so appropriately put it that we are certainly the only animal that makes conscious choices that are bad for our survival as a species.
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