Freedom would be not to choose between black and white but to abjure such prescribed choices.
Theodor AdornoRead
A German is someone who cannot tell a lie without believing it himself.
Interpretation
This quote humorously suggests that Germans have an unusual relationship with truth and deception.
The quote by Theodor Adorno plays on the stereotype of German honesty and the complexities of lying, implying that when a German tells a lie, itβs not merely a falsehood, but they genuinely come to believe it themselves. This commentary reflects on the nature of truth, deception, and the cultural expectations surrounding honesty in society.
In practice
Use this quote in a discussion about cultural differences in communication styles.
Freedom would be not to choose between black and white but to abjure such prescribed choices.
What can oppose the decline of the west is not a resurrected culture but the utopia that is silently contained in the image of its decline.
Wrong life cannot be lived rightly.
Auschwitz begins wherever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks: theyβre only animals.
The splinter in your eye is the best magnifying-glass available.
The culture industry not so much adapts to the reactions of its customers as it counterfeits them.
He said he would come in,' the White Queen went on, `because he was looking for a hippopotamus. Now, as it happened, there wasn't such a thing in the house, that morning.' Is there generally?' Alice asked in an astonished tone. Well, only on Thursdays,' said the Queen.
Comedians walk out, get a feel for the crowd. If it's not going good, we change directions. If we got to drag your momma into this thing, we will. Whatever we got to do.
Woman: You certainly know the way to a man's heart. Mae West: Funny, too, 'cause I don't know how to cook.
The man with the best job in the country is the vice-president. All he has to do is get up every morning and say, 'How is the president?'
I'm so fast I could hit you before God gets the news.
Molly Shannon and I used to always talk about that we really felt strongly that we were comedic actors, that we weren't comedians. You just played things real and the comedy came out of the context.
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