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Mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual.

Walter Benjamin

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Walter Benjamin
Age: 48 †
Born: 1892
Born: July 15
Died: 1940
Died: September 26
Art Critic
Essayist
Literary Critic
Literary Historian
Philosopher
Sociologist
Translator
Writer
Berlin
Germany
Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin
Reproduction
Mechanical
Dependence
Ritual
Art
Work

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The killing of a criminal can be moral-but never its legitimation.
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We have long forgotten the ritual by which the house of our life was erected. But when it is under assault and enemy bombs are already taking their toll, what enervated, perverse antiquities do they not lay bare in the foundations.
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Living substance conquers the frenzy of destruction only in the ecstasy of procreation.
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He who observes etiquette but objects to lying is like someone who dresses fashionably but wears no vest.
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Taking food alone tends to make one hard and coarse. Those accustomed to it must lead a Spartan life if they are not to go downhill. Hermits have observed, if for only this reason, a frugal diet. For it is only in company that eating is done justice food must be divided and distributed if it is to be well received.
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Art teaches us to see into things. Folk art and kitsch allow us to see outward from within things.
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There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism.
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