Once the last trace of emotion has been eradicated, nothing remains of thought but absolute tautology.
Theodor AdornoPeople at the top are closing ranks so tightly that all possibility of subjective deviation has gone, and difference can be sought only in the more distinguished cut of an evening dress.
Theodor AdornoThe usual reproach against the essay, that it is fragmentary and random, itself assumes the givenness of totality and suggests that man is in control of this totality. The desire of the essay, though, is not to filter the eternal out of the transitory; it wants, rather, to make the transitory eternal.
Theodor Adorno