Truth is inseperable from the illusory belief that from the figures of the unreal one day, in spite of all, real deliverance will come.
- Theodor Adorno
Will, Deliverance, Illusory, Spite
Anti-Semitism is the rumour about the Jews.
- Theodor Adorno
Jews, About, Rumour, Anti-Semitism
Happiness is obsolete: uneconomic.
- Theodor Adorno
Happiness, Obsolete
Dialectic thought is an attempt to break through the coercion of logic by its own means.
- Theodor Adorno
Thought, Through, Means, Coercion
A pencil and rubber are of more use to thought than a battalion of assistants. To happiness the same applies as to truth: one does not have it, but is in it.
- Theodor Adorno
Thought, More, Assistants, Battalion
Quality is decided by the depth at which the work incorporates the alternatives within itself, and so masters them.
- Theodor Adorno
Decided, Which, Itself, Depth
Not only is the self entwined in society; it owes society its existence in the most literal sense.
- Theodor Adorno
Society, Most, Owes, Entwined
In the age of the individual's liquidation, the question of individuality must be raised anew.
- Theodor Adorno
Question, Individual, Anew, Liquidation
The human is indissolubly linked with imitation: a human being only becomes human at all by imitating other human beings.
- Theodor Adorno
Other, Human Being, Being, Imitation
Love is the power to see similarity in the dissimilar.
- Theodor Adorno
Love, See, Similarity, Love Is
Art is permitted to survive only if it renounces the right to be different, and integrates itself into the omnipotent realm of the profane.
- Theodor Adorno
Art, Survive, Right, Omnipotent
Love you will find only where you may show yourself weak without provoking strength.
- Theodor Adorno
Love, Strength, May, Provoking
Lies are told only to convey to someone that one has no need either of him or his good opinion.
- Theodor Adorno
Good, Him, Need, Good Opinion
The individual mirrors in his individuation the preordained social laws of exploitation, however mediated.
- Theodor Adorno
Laws, However, His, Exploitation
Normality is death.
- Theodor Adorno
Death, Normality
Today self-consciousness no longer means anything but reflection on the ego as embarrassment, as realization of impotence: knowing that one is nothing.
- Theodor Adorno
Reflection, Nothing, Means, Self-Consciousness
He who stands aloof runs the risk of believing himself better than others and misusing his critique of society as an ideology for his private interest.
- Theodor Adorno
Private, Ideology, Critique, Aloof
Domination delegates the physical violence on which it rests to the dominated.
- Theodor Adorno
Domination, Which, Dominated, Delegates
Modernity is a qualitative, not a chronological, category.
- Theodor Adorno
Modernity, Qualitative, Category
Intelligence is a moral category.
- Theodor Adorno
Intelligence, Moral, Category
Tact is the discrimination of differences. It consists in conscious deviations.
- Theodor Adorno
Differences, Consists, Tact
Fascism is itself less 'ideological', in so far as it openly proclaims the principle of domination that is elsewhere concealed.
- Theodor Adorno
Principle, Itself, Fascism
In the abstract conception of universal wrong, all concrete responsibility vanishes.
- Theodor Adorno
Responsibility, Concrete, Vanishes
Technology is making gestures precise and brutal, and with them men.
- Theodor Adorno
Technology, Making, Brutal, Precise
If time is money, it seems moral to save time, above all one's own, and such parsimony is excused by consideration for others. One is straight-forward.
- Theodor Adorno
Own, Save, Excused, Time Is Money
The specific is not exclusive: it lacks the aspiration to totality.
- Theodor Adorno
Specific, Exclusive, Lacks, Aspiration
Freedom would be not to choose between black and white but to abjure such prescribed choices.
- Theodor Adorno
Freedom, White, Would, Prescribed
An emancipated society, on the other hand, would not be a unitary state, but the realization of universality in the reconciliation of differences.
- Theodor Adorno
Society, Other, Universality, Reconciliation
The man for whom time stretches out painfully is one waiting in vain, disappointed at not finding tomorrow already continuing yesterday.
- Theodor Adorno
Waiting, Tomorrow, Vain, Painfully
The culture industry not so much adapts to the reactions of its customers as it counterfeits them.
- Theodor Adorno
Culture, Industry, Them, Reactions
The good man is he who rules himself as he does his own property: his autonomous being is modelled on material power.
- Theodor Adorno
Independence, Rules, Own, Modelled
Proletarian language is dictated by hunger. The poor chew words to fill their bellies.
- Theodor Adorno
Poor, Bellies, Proletarian, Dictated
But he who dies in despair has lived his whole life in vain.
- Theodor Adorno
Vain, His, Whole, Despair
The recent past always presents itself as if destroyed by catastrophes.
- Theodor Adorno
Always, Destroyed, Itself, Recent
Advice to intellectuals: let no-one represent you.
- Theodor Adorno
Intelligence, Advice, No-One, Represent
The first and only principle of sexual ethics: the accuser is always in the wrong.
- Theodor Adorno
Always, Only, Principle, Accuser
In the end, glorification of splendid underdogs is nothing other than glorification of the splendid system that makes them so.
- Theodor Adorno
Nothing, Other, System, In The End
The task of art today is to bring chaos into order.
- Theodor Adorno
Art, Chaos, Task, Order
He who matures early lives in anticipation.
- Theodor Adorno
Early, He, Lives, Anticipation
Only a humanity to whom death has become as indifferent as its members, that has itself died, can inflict it administratively on innumerable people.
- Theodor Adorno
Death, People, Died, Indifferent
The joke of our time is the suicide of intention.
- Theodor Adorno
Time, Suicide, Our, Our Time
All satire is blind to the forces liberated by decay. Which is why total decay has absorbed the forces of satire.
- Theodor Adorno
Blind, Which, Total, Absorb
Insane sects grow with the same rhythm as big organizations. It is the rhythm of total destruction.
- Theodor Adorno
Grow, Big, Total, Organizations
Because thought has by now been perverted into the solving of assigned problems, even what is not assigned is processed like a problem.
- Theodor Adorno
Thought, Been, Solving, Assigned
The most powerful person is he who is able to do least himself and burden others most with the things for which he lends his name and pockets the credit.
- Theodor Adorno
Which, Lends, Least, Credit
None of the abstract concepts comes closer to fulfilled utopia than that of eternal peace.
- Theodor Adorno
Utopia, Eternal, Concepts, Abstract
Once the last trace of emotion has been eradicated, nothing remains of thought but absolute tautology.
- Theodor Adorno
Emotion, Been, Last, Trace
The gods look in pleasure on penitent sinners.
- Theodor Adorno
Look, Pleasure, Gods, Sinners
Work while you work, play while you play - this is a basic rule of repressive self-discipline.
- Theodor Adorno
Work, Play, Rule, Basic
No harm comes to man from outside alone: dumbness is the objective spirit.
- Theodor Adorno
Alone, Outside, Harm, Objective
In his state of complete powerlessness the individual perceives the time he has left to live as a brief reprieve.
- Theodor Adorno
Powerlessness, Brief, His, Complete
He who has laughter on his side has no need of proof.
- Theodor Adorno
Need, Side, His, Proof
Wrong life cannot be lived rightly.
- Theodor Adorno
Life, Cannot, Rightly, Wrong
The hardest hit, as everywhere, are those who have no choice.
- Theodor Adorno
Hit, Everywhere, Hardest, No Choice
The almost insoluble task is to let neither the power of others, nor our own powerlessness, stupefy us.
- Theodor Adorno
Task, Powerlessness, Nor, Neither
Everything that has ever been called folk art has always reflected domination.
- Theodor Adorno
Always, Been, Ever, Folk
No emancipation without that of society.
- Theodor Adorno
Society, Without, Emancipation
When all actions are mathematically calculated, they also take on a stupid quality.
- Theodor Adorno
Stupid, Take, Also, Quality
History does not merely touch on language, but takes place in it.
- Theodor Adorno
Language, Touch, Does, Merely
Every work of art is an uncommitted crime.
- Theodor Adorno
Work, Art, Every, Crime
Thinking no longer means anymore than checking at each moment whether one can indeed think.
- Theodor Adorno
Think, Checking, Means, Anymore
If across the Atlantic the ideology was pride, here it is delivering the goods.
- Theodor Adorno
Here, Delivering, Across, Pride
Exuberant health is always, as such, sickness also.
- Theodor Adorno
Health, Sickness, Always, Exuberant
Estrangement shows itself precisely in the elimination of distance between people.
- Theodor Adorno
Distance, Shows, Itself, Precisely
There is no love that is not an echo.
- Theodor Adorno
Love, No Love, Echo
For a man who no longer has a homeland, writing becomes a place to live.
- Theodor Adorno
Man, Writing, Longer, Homeland
Life has become the ideology of its own absence.
- Theodor Adorno
Life, Own, Absence, Ideology
He who integrates is lost.
- Theodor Adorno
He, Who, Lost
The whole is the false.
- Theodor Adorno
Whole, False
Horror is beyond the reach of psychology.
- Theodor Adorno
Reach, Beyond, Psychology, Horror
The poor are prevented from thinking by the discipline of others, the rich by their own.
- Theodor Adorno
Discipline, Own, Poor, Rich
Art is magic delivered from the lie of being truth.
- Theodor Adorno
Truth, Art, Magic, Lie
A German is someone who cannot tell a lie without believing it himself.
- Theodor Adorno
Someone, Himself, German, Lie
He who has loved and who betrays love does harm not only to the image of the past, but to the past itself.
- Theodor Adorno
Love, Image, Itself, Betrays
In psycho-analysis nothing is true except the exaggerations.
- Theodor Adorno
True, Nothing, Except
To say 'we' and mean 'I' is one of the most recondite insults.
- Theodor Adorno
Mean, Say, Most, Insults
The splinter in your eye is the best magnifying-glass.
- Theodor Adorno
Best, Your, Eye
True thoughts are those alone which do not understand themselves.
- Theodor Adorno
Alone, Themselves, Which, Thoughts
Loading more quotes...
If you're searching for quotes on a different topic, feel free to browse our Topics page or explore a diverse collection of quotes from various Authors to find inspiration.