---
title: "1 Frankfurt-school Quotes By Theodor W. Adorno"
description: "1 Frankfurt-school quotes by Theodor W. Adorno. Plus more from Theodor W. Adorno and more Frankfurt-school sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/538/theodor-w-adorno-19590_buddhism_ruthlessly-in-despite-of-itself-the-enli_478694.jpg"
---

> [“Ruthlessly, in despite of itself, the Enlightenment has extinguished any trace of its own self-consciousness. The only kind of thinking that is sufficiently hard to shatter myths is ultimately self-destructive.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-w-adorno/ruthlessly-in-despite-of-itself-the-enlightenment-has-extinguished/)

[Theodor W. Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-w-adorno/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/538/theodor-w-adorno-19590_buddhism_ruthlessly-in-despite-of-itself-the-enli_478694.jpg)

## More by Theodor W. Adorno

> [“Ever since Plato, bourgeois consciousness has deceived itself that objective antinomies could be mastered by steering a middle course between them, whereas the sought-out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-w-adorno/ever-since-plato-bourgeois-consciousness-has-deceived-itself-that/)

[Theodor W. Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-w-adorno/)

> [“A film which followed the code of the Hays Office to the strictest letter might succeed in being a great work of art, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-w-adorno/a-film-which-followed-the-code-of-the-hays-office-to-the-strictest/)

[Theodor W. Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-w-adorno/)

> [“Fascism was not simply a conspiracy—although it was that—but it was something that came to life in the course of a powerful social development.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-w-adorno/fascism-was-not-simply-a-conspiracy-although-it-was-that-but-it-was/)

[Theodor W. Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-w-adorno/)

> [“Ruthlessly, in despite of itself, the Enlightenment has extinguished any trace of its own self-consciousness. The only kind of thinking that is sufficiently hard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-w-adorno/ruthlessly-in-despite-of-itself-the-enlightenment-has-extinguished/)

[Theodor W. Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-w-adorno/)

> [“Philosophy, which once seemed outmoded, remains alive because the moment of its realization was missed. The summary judgement that it had merely interpreted the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-w-adorno/philosophy-which-once-seemed-outmoded-remains-alive-because-the/)

[Theodor W. Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-w-adorno/)

> [“Art respects the masses, by confronting them as that which they could be, rather than conforming to them in their degraded state.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-w-adorno/art-respects-the-masses-by-confronting-them-as-that-which-they-could/)

[Theodor W. Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-w-adorno/)

> [“Even at that time the hope of leaving behind messages in bottles on the flood of barbarism bursting on Europe was an amiable illusion:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-w-adorno/even-at-that-time-the-hope-of-leaving-behind-messages-in-bottles-on/)

[Theodor W. Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-w-adorno/)

> [“It is not so much that subjectivity is communicated or expressed by music as that in it, as in a theater, something objective is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-w-adorno/it-is-not-so-much-that-subjectivity-is-communicated-or-expressed-by/)

[Theodor W. Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-w-adorno/)

> [“Paranoia is a pathological possibility built-in to all conceptual thinking, the "dark side of cognition" and the typical symptom of the "half-educated."20 Anti-Semitism is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-w-adorno/paranoia-is-a-pathological-possibility-built-in-to-all-conceptual/)

[Theodor W. Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-w-adorno/)

> [“even there, where the rejection of the system is taken for granted and for that reason a lax and cunning conformism of its own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-w-adorno/even-there-where-the-rejection-of-the-system-is-taken-for-granted-and/)

[Theodor W. Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-w-adorno/)

> [“The subjectivist approach to art simply fails to understand that the subjective experience of art in itself is meaningless, and that in order to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-w-adorno/the-subjectivist-approach-to-art-simply-fails-to-understand-that-the/)

[Theodor W. Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-w-adorno/)

> [“One should never begrudge deletions.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-w-adorno/one-should-never-begrudge-deletions/)

[Theodor W. Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-w-adorno/)

> [“Divertir-se significa que não devemos pensar, que devemos esquecer a dor, mesmo onde ela se mostra. Na base do divertimento planta-se a impotência. É,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-w-adorno/divertir-se-significa-que-n-o-devemos-pensar-que-devemos-esquecer-a/)

[Theodor W. Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-w-adorno/)

> [“Since death, as the existential horizon of Dasein, is considered absolute, it becomes the absolute in the form of an icon. There is here…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-w-adorno/since-death-as-the-existential-horizon-of-dasein-is-considered/)

[Theodor W. Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-w-adorno/)

> [“Beauty today can have no other measure except the depth to which a work resolves contradictions. A work must cut through the contradictions and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-w-adorno/beauty-today-can-have-no-other-measure-except-the-depth-to-which-a/)

[Theodor W. Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-w-adorno/)

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