In his state of complete powerlessness the individual perceives the time he has left to live as a brief reprieve.
Theodor AdornoThinking no longer means anymore than checking at each moment whether one can indeed think.
Theodor AdornoQuality is decided by the depth at which the work incorporates the alternatives within itself, and so masters them.
Theodor AdornoIndeed, 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.
Theodor Adorno