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Walter Benjamin

Walter Benjamin Quotes

Literary critic

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Famous Walter Benjamin Quotes

“Not to find one's way around a city does not mean much. But to lose one's way in a city, as one loses one's way in a forest, requires some schooling. Street names must speak to the urban wanderer like the snapping of dry twigs, and little streets in the heart of the city must reflect the times of day, for him, as clearly as a mountain valley. This art I acquired rather late in life; it fulfilled a dream, of which the first traces were labyrinths on the blotting papers in my school notebooks.”

WayFirstsHeartMeanLittlesDoeArtDreamSchoolNamesSpeakLosesCitiesStreetsMountainPaperLateForestsDryValleysFulfilledUrbanPapersNotebookSchoolingLabyrinthWanderersTwigsTime Of DaySnapping
Book:Selected Writings: 1935-1938
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“Not to find one's way in a city may well be uninteresting and banal. It requires ignorance - nothing more. But to lose oneself in a city - as one loses oneself in a forest - that calls for a quite different schooling. Then, signboard and street names, passers-by, roofs, kiosks, or bars must speak to the wanderer like a cracking twig under his feet in the forest.”

WayWellsMayDifferentNamesSpeakLosesCitiesFeetStreetsIgnoranceOneselfBarsForestsRoofSchoolingCity LifeWanderersTwigsCities At Night
Book:Selected Writings: 1927-1934
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