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
Genuine polemics approach a book as lovingly as a cannibal spices a baby. – Walter Benjamin
These are days when no one should rely unduly on his competence. Strength lies in improvisation. All the decisive blows are struck left-handed. – Walter Benjamin
He who observes etiquette but objects to lying is like someone who dresses fashionably but wears no vest. – Walter Benjamin
The time to read is any time: no apparatus, no appointment of time and place, is necessary. It is the only art which can be practiced at any hour of the day or night, whenever the time and inclination comes, that is your time for reading in joy or sorrow, health or illness. – Holbrook Jackson