The idea that happiness could have a share in beauty would be too much of a good thing. – Walter Benjamin
The art of the critic in a nutshell: to coin slogans without betraying ideas. The slogans of an inadequate criticism peddle ideas to fashion. – Walter Benjamin
Quotations in my work are like wayside robbers who leap out armed and relieve the stroller of his conviction. – Walter Benjamin
He who observes etiquette but objects to lying is like someone who dresses fashionably but wears no vest. – Walter Benjamin
It is wonderful that five thousand years have now elapsed since the creation of the world, and still it is undecided whether or not there has ever been an instance of the spirit of any person appearing after death. All argument is against it; but all belief is for it. – Samuel Johnson, quoted by James Boswell