Books and harlots have their quarrels in public.
Walter Benjamin

The only way of knowing a person is to love them without hope.
Walter Benjamin

It is only for the sake of those without hope that hope is given to us.
Walter Benjamin

All human knowledge takes the form of interpretation.
Walter Benjamin

Memory is not an instrument for exploring the past but its theatre. It is the medium of past experience, as the ground is the medium in which dead cities lie interred.
Walter Benjamin

Of all the ways of acquiring books, writing them oneself is regarded as the most praiseworthy method. 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 Benjamin

Opinions are a private matter. The public has an interest only in judgments.
Walter Benjamin

All disgust is originally disgust at touching.
Walter Benjamin