Theodor Adorno Quotes
Theodor W. Adorno was a 20th-century German philosopher, sociologist, musicologist, and a leading figure of the first generation of the Frankfurt School of critical theory. The quotes below are attributed to Theodor Adorno, organized by topic.
Browse Theodor Adorno by topic
Theodor Adorno on Death
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“Full quote: Kulturkritik findet sich der letzten Stufe der Dialektik von Kultur und Barbarei gegenüber: nach Auschwitz ein Gedicht zu schreiben, ist barbarisch, und das frißt auch die Erkenntnis an, die ausspricht, warum es unmöglich ward, heute Gedichte zu schreiben.”
Nach Auschwitz ein Gedicht zu schreiben, ist barbarisch
Theodor Adorno on Freedom
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“Both are torn halves of an integral freedom, to which however they do not add up.”
On high culture and popular culture, in a letter to Walter Benjamin (18 March 1936)
Theodor Adorno on Knowledge
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Attributed to Theodor Adorno:
“The splinter in your eye is the best magnifying-glass.”
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“On high culture and popular culture, in a letter to Walter Benjamin (18 March 1936)”
Both are torn halves of an integral freedom, to which however they do not add up. -
“Fear and destructiveness are the major emotional sources of fascism, eros belongs mainly to democracy.”
The Authoritarian Personality (1950), p. 976, co-written with Else Frenkel-Brunswik , Daniel Levinson , and Nevitt Sanford -
“Nach Auschwitz ein Gedicht zu schreiben, ist barbarisch”
Writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric. | Full quote: Kulturkritik findet sich der letzten Stufe der Dialektik von Kultur und Barbarei gegenüber: nach Auschwitz ein Gedicht zu schreiben, ist barbarisch, und das frißt auch die Erkenntnis an, die ausspricht, warum es unmöglich ward, heute Gedichte zu schreiben. | Kulturkritik und Gesellschaft [ Cultural Criticism and Society ] (1951); this quote -
“When I made my theoretical model, I could not have guessed that people would try to realise it with Molotov cocktails.”
As quoted in The Dialectical Imagination : A History of the Frankfurt School and the Institute of Social Research (1973) by M Jay, p. 279. -
“In general they are intoxicated by the fame of mass culture, a fame which the latter knows how to manipulate; they could just as well get together in clubs for worshipping film stars or for collecting autographs. What is important to them is the sense of belonging as such, identification, without paying particular attention to its content. As girls, they have trained themselves to faint upon heari”
Perennial fashion — Jazz , as quoted in The Sociology of Rock (1978) by Simon Frith, ISBN 0094602204
Theodor Adorno on Life
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“Wrong life cannot be lived rightly.”
Es gibt kein richtiges Leben im falschen.
Theodor Adorno on Love
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Attributed to Theodor Adorno:
“Love is the power to see similarity in the dissimilar.”
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Attributed to Theodor Adorno:
“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 on Mind
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Attributed to Theodor Adorno:
“Intolerance of ambiguity is the mark of an authoritarian personality.”
Theodor Adorno on Time
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“Kulturkritik und Gesellschaft [ Cultural Criticism and Society ] (1951); this quote is more famously known in the forms " No poetry after Auschwitz " or " There can be no poetry after Auschwitz. " Sometimes a more specific proscription is made, such as "No lyric poetry after Auschwitz." The influence of the underlying idea can be seen in such derivative statements as "No history after Auschwitz.”
Nach Auschwitz ein Gedicht zu schreiben, ist barbarisch
Theodor Adorno on Truth
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“To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric.”
Nach Auschwitz ein Gedicht zu schreiben, ist barbarisch -
Attributed to Theodor Adorno:
“The whole is the false.”
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Attributed to Theodor Adorno:
“Beauty today can have no other measure except the depth to which a work resolves contradictions.”