The illiterate of the future will not be the man who cannot read the alphabet, but the one who cannot take a photograph.
Walter BenjaminRead
Living substance conquers the frenzy of destruction only in the ecstasy of procreation.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Creation and life persist despite chaos and destruction.
Walter Benjamin's quote expresses the idea that the essence of life, described here as 'living substance', has the power to overcome the turmoil and destruction in the world through the joy and act of creation, or procreation. This quote highlights the fundamental resilience of life against adversity, suggesting that even in the face of chaos, the act of bringing forth new life is both a source of happiness and a victory over destruction.
Themes
CreationLifeDestructionResilienceProcreationJoy
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could inspire artists at a gallery opening to reflect on the importance of creativity.
More from Walter Benjamin
All quotes →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
Walter BenjaminRead
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
How many cities have revealed themselves to me in the marches I undertook in the pursuit of books!
Walter BenjaminRead
Similar quotes
I delight to lodge in such temples as are not regularly kept closed. None of the gods reject me; they make me partner of their roof.
Apollonius Of TyanaRead
There is no health in those who are displeased by an element in Your creation, just as there was none in me when I was displeased by many things You had made. Because my soul didn't dare to say that my God displeased me, it refused to attribute to You whatever was displeasing.
Saint AugustineRead
Most people catch their presuppositions from their family and surrounding society the way a child catches measles. But people with more understanding realize that their presuppositions should be chosen after a careful consideration of what world-view is true.
Francis SchaefferRead
As there is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it, so reasonable arguments, challenges to magnanimity, and appeals to sympathy or justice, are folly when we are dealing with human crocodiles and boa-constrictors.
William JamesRead
Canada is either an idea or it does not exist. It is either an intellectual undertaking or it is little more than a resource-rich vacuum lying in the buffer zone just north of a great empire.
John Ralston SaulRead
They felt that science would be corrosive to religious belief and they were worried about it. Damn it, I think they were right. It is corrosive to religious belief and it's a good thing.
Steven WeinbergRead