Living substance conquers the frenzy of destruction only in the ecstasy of procreation.
Walter BenjaminRead
Ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects. Not that they come alive in him; it is he who lives in them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that ownership fosters a deep emotional connection with objects, wherein a person becomes intertwined with the essence of what they own.
Walter Benjamin's quote emphasizes the profound connection people develop with their possessions. He posits that ownership transcends mere acquisition; rather, it forms a bond where the owner becomes deeply embedded in the identity and meaning of the objects they possess. This relationship transforms the owner's existence, highlighting that through the act of ownership, individuals ascribe personal significance to material things, suggesting a shared existence between the person and their belongings.
Themes
OwnershipRelationshipObjectsIdentityConnection
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about consumerism, one might say, 'As Walter Benjamin reminds us, ownership can create deep connections with objects.'
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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What use is it to us to hear it said of a man that he has thrown off the yoke that he does not believe there is a God to watch over his actions, that he reckons himself the sole master of his behavior, and that he does not intend to give an account of it to anyone but himself?
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You like every one; that is to say, you are indifferent to every one.
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