Gleaning: experiences from reading Section 62 of Minima Moralia (Theodor Adorno), P 99-101.
‘On rereading Anatole France’s meditative books…
“Some succeed because they are destined to; most succeed because they are determined to.”
“We do not know what to do with this short life, but we want another which will be eternal.”
“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich and the poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.” (Le Lys Rouge)
“If the path be beautiful, let us not question where it leads.” – (etc ED) –
…one cannot help feeling an uneasiness – the mode of delivery contains, beneath the poised humanity, a hidden violence: he can afford to talk in this way because noone interrupts the master…
‘…In the detachment necessary to all thought is flaunted the privilege that permits immunity. The aversion aroused by this is now the most serious obstacle to theory – (and to the novel! ED) – : if one gives way to it, one keeps quiet; if not, one is coarsened and debased by confiding in one’s own culture…
‘…The most urgent need of exposition… is to keep such experiences – (fragmented, sectioned, forked, vibrating, pulsating mechanisms ED) – always in view, and by its tempo, compactness, density, yet also its tentativeness, to give them expression.’