Walter Benjamin

"To create is to remember."

"The past can be seized only as an image which flashes up at the instant when it can be recognized and is never seen again."

"There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism."

"Humanity's true face is only revealed in the revolutionary moment."

"Every image of the past that is not recognized by the present as one of its own concerns threatens to disappear irretrievably."

"The angel of history must have this appearance: his face is turned toward the past, but he is irresistibly drawn into the future by the storm of progress."

"It is not that what is past casts its light on what is present, or what is present its light on what is past; rather, image is that wherein what has been comes together in a flash with the now to form a constellation."

"To articulate the past historically does not mean to recognize it 'the way it really was.' It means to seize hold of a memory as it flashes up at a moment of danger."

"The true picture of the past flits by. The past can be seized only as an image."

"Fascism attempts to organize the newly created proletarian masses without affecting the property structure which the masses strive to eliminate."

"The authentic artwork exists only in relation to the here and now of its material existence."

"The reproduction of artworks is an art form of our age, the way sculpture was for the ancients and oil painting for the Renaissance."

"A storm is coming and we must learn to navigate it with our eyes open."

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that very existence is an act of rebellion."

"In every era the attempt must be made anew to wrest tradition away from a conformism that is about to overpower it."

"Collect things, but value the collecting more than the objects collected."

"The past is hidden in layers of dust and ash, waiting for the archaeologist of memory to uncover its secrets."

"Every epoch dreams its successor into existence."

"The commodity appears first and foremost as an extremely obvious, trivial thing. Yet its analysis brings out that it is a very strange thing."

"Thinking involves not only the flow of thoughts, but their arrest as well."

"The historical materialist cannot do without the notion of a present which is not a transition, but in which time stands still and has come to a stop."

"Method is a detour; the expression of the necessity of remaining awhile with the object, and of involving oneself with its component parts."

"There are no facts, only interpretations, and the more honest we are about this, the closer we come to truth."

"Originality is not a matter of individual genius but of historical emergence."

"The work of translation is the highest endeavor of art and thought."

"Sacred space is not found in temples but in the forgotten corners of the ordinary world."

"We must remain true to those who came before, by honoring their struggle through our own courage."

"The present moment contains infinite possibilities if we learn to see it clearly."

"Progress is not inevitable; every moment of peace is an achievement against the machinery of violence."

"To understand the present, we must listen to the whispers of the past in unexpected places."