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.
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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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Civilization depends on morality.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
America touts itself as the land of the free, but the number one freedom that you and I have is the freedom to enter into a subservient role in the workplace. Once you exercise this freedom you’ve lost all control over what you do, what is produced, and how it is produced. And in the end, the product doesn’t belong to you. The only way you can avoid bosses and jobs is if you don’t care about making a living. Which leads to the second freedom: the freedom to starve.
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I cannot discover that anyone knows enough to say definitely what is and what is not possible.
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The foundation of reverence is this perception, that the present holds within itself the complete sum of existence, backwards and forwards, that whole amplitude of time, which is eternity.
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I cannot think that we are useless or God would not have created us. There is one God looking down on us all. We are all the children of one God. The sun, the darkness, the winds are all listening to what we have to say.
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A tomb now suffices him for whom the whole world was not sufficient.
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