Any translation which intends to perform a transmitting function cannot transmit anything but information — hence, something inessential. This is the hallmark of bad translations. – Walter Benjamin
Opinions are to the vast apparatus of social existence what oil is to machines: one does not go up to a turbine and pour machine oil over it; one applies a little to hidden spindles and joints that one has to know. – Walter Benjamin
The destructive character lives from the feeling, not that life is worth living, but that suicide is not worth the trouble. – Walter Benjamin
Genuine polemics approach a book as lovingly as a cannibal spices a baby. – Walter Benjamin
While it may not be appropriate in every venue, and on every occasion, mockery is the guardian of reason, the enemy of pretension, and the mirror to folly. No belief, no passion, no commitment should be considered immune from the acerbic test of ridicule. – Dr. Idel Dreimer, www.lumpenbangenpiano.com