Theodor Adorno
Theodor Adorno
Theodor W. Adornowas a German philosopher, sociologist, and composer known for his critical theory of society...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth11 September 1903
CountryGermany
mother lying shelter
Indeed, happiness is nothing other than being encompassed, an after-image of the original shelter within the mother. But for this reason no one who is happy can know that he is so. To see happiness, he would have to pass out of it: to be as if already born. He who says he is happy lies, and in invoking happiness, sins against it. He alone keeps faith who says: I was happy.
giving-up symbolism band
The aim of jazz is the mechanical reproduction of a regressive moment, a castration symbolism. 'Give up your masculinity, let yourself be castrated,' the eunuchlike sound of the jazz band both mocks and proclaims, 'and you will be rewarded, accepted into a fraternity which shares the mystery of impotence with you, a mystery revealed at the moment of the initiation rite.
way causes modern
On their way toward modern science human beings have discarded meaning. The concept is replaced by the formula, the cause by rules and probability.
order evil hatred
The creed of evil has been, since the beginnings of highly industrialized society, not only a precursor of barbarism but a mask of good. The worth of the latter was transferred to the evil that drew to itself all the hatred and resentment of an order which drummed good into its adherents so that it could with impunity be evil.
knowledge limits creation
Knowledge, which is power, knows no limits, either in its enslavement of creation or in its deference to worldly masters.
people stronger stills
People have so manipulated the concept of freedom that it finally boils down to the right of the stronger and richer to take from the weaker and poorer whatever they still have.
writing poetry auschwitz
Writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric.
mean comeback insult
To say 'we' and mean 'I' is one of the most recondite insults.
art suffering world
There is something embarrassing in... the way in which, ... turning suffering into images, harsh and uncompromising though they are, ... wounds the shame we feel in the presence of the victims. For these victims are used to create something, works of art, that are thrown to the consumption of a world which destroyed them.
art relation inner-life
Everything about art has become problematic; its inner life, its relation to society, even its right to exist.
True thoughts are those alone which do not understand themselves.
lasts emotion tautology
Once the last trace of emotion has been eradicated, nothing remains of thought but absolute tautology.
love love-is romance
Love is the power to see similarity in the dissimilar.
echoes no-love
There is no love that is not an echo.