Even the loveliest dream bears like a blemish its difference from reality, the awareness that what it grants is mere illusion.

Thinking no longer means anymore than checking at each moment whether one can indeed think.

Not only is the self entwined in society; it owes society its existence in the most literal sense.

Work while you work, play while you play - this is a basic rule of repressive self-discipline.

Love you will find only where you may show yourself weak without provoking strength.

The darkening of the world makes the irrationality of art rational: radically darkened art.

Everything about art has become problematic; its inner life, its relation to society, even its right to exist.