--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As long as there is still one beggar…" description: "\"As long as there is still one beggar around, there will still be myth.\" — Walter Benjamin" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce2/walter-benjamin-1723_beggar_as-long-as-there-is-still-one-beggar-aro_1899345.jpg" --- # As long as there is still one beggar around, there will… ![“As long as there is still one beggar around, there will still be myth.” quote by Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce2/walter-benjamin-1723_beggar_as-long-as-there-is-still-one-beggar-aro_1899345.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce2/walter-benjamin-1723_beggar_as-long-as-there-is-still-one-beggar-aro_1899345.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce2/walter-benjamin-1723_beggar_as-long-as-there-is-still-one-beggar-aro_1899345.jpg) > “As long as there is still one beggar around, there will still be myth.” [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Myths persist as long as there are people in need, because stories arise to explain hardship and hope. **In simple terms:** Myths survive when beggars exist. Key Takeaway Recognize the role of hardship in creating stories. Themes myth poverty human need Mood thoughtful critical Type philosophical observational When to use this quote - urban life - social commentary - philosophical discourse Key Concepts culture storytelling survival Questions to Reflect On - What myths arise from modern poverty? - Do myths help or hinder social change? A Different Perspective Myths can also justify oppression. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Myth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/myth/) [Storytelling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/storytelling/) ## Related quotes > [All religions have honored the beggar. For he proves that in a matter at the same time as prosaic and holy, banal and regenerative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/all-religions-have-honored-the-beggar-for-he-proves-that-in-a-matter/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [I have always been fascinated by the supernatural elements in stories, whether fairy tales, myths, film or literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trudi-canavan/i-have-always-been-fascinated-by-the-supernatural-elements-in-stories/) [Trudi Canavan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trudi-canavan/) > [There is no greater power on this earth than story.” Will paced the length of the room. “People think boundaries and borders build nations.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/libba-bray/there-is-no-greater-power-on-this-earth-than-story-will-paced-the/) [Libba Bray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/libba-bray/) > [Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-medawar/innocent-unbiased-observation-is-a-myth/) [Peter Medawar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-medawar/) > [The myth that 'old' guys can't write anything fresh is just a myth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-lukather/the-myth-that-old-guys-can-t-write-anything-fresh-is-just-a-myth/) [Steve Lukather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-lukather/) > [Ritual and myth are like seed crystals of new patterns that can eventually reshape culture around them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/starhawk/ritual-and-myth-are-like-seed-crystals-of-new-patterns-that-can/) [Starhawk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/starhawk/) > [History is a myth that men agree to believe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/history-is-a-myth-that-men-agree-to-believe/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [I always take a story that's kind of out there, like an urban myth. I take some possibility that people imagine, that they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cecelia-ahern/i-always-take-a-story-that-s-kind-of-out-there-like-an-urban-myth-i/) [Cecelia Ahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cecelia-ahern/) > [Music is our myth of the inner life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susanne-katherina-langer/music-is-our-myth-of-the-inner-life/) [Susanne Katherina Langer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susanne-katherina-langer/) > [I think of mythology as the homeland of the muses, the inspirers of art, the inspirers of poetry. To see life as a poem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/i-think-of-mythology-as-the-homeland-of-the-muses-the-inspirers-of/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [In each studio there is a human being dressed in the full regalia of his myth fearing to expore a vulnerable opening, spreading not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anais-nin/in-each-studio-there-is-a-human-being-dressed-in-the-full-regalia-of/) [Anais Nin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anais-nin/) > [“Believe reality is what you were taught was myth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-a-mcgirr/believe-reality-is-what-you-were-taught-was-myth/) [Nicholas A. McGirr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-a-mcgirr/) > [If it is written and read with serious attention, a novel, like a myth or any great work of art, can become an initiation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/if-it-is-written-and-read-with-serious-attention-a-novel-like-a-myth/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [Beware of self-indulgence. The romance surrounding the writing profession carries several myths: that one must suffer in order to be creative; that one must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brin/beware-of-self-indulgence-the-romance-surrounding-the-writing/) [David Brin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brin/) > [When we lose our myths we lose our place in the universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madeleine-l-engle/when-we-lose-our-myths-we-lose-our-place-in-the-universe/) [Madeleine L'Engle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madeleine-l-engle/) ## More by Walter Benjamin > [All efforts to render politics aesthetic culminate in one thing: war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/all-efforts-to-render-politics-aesthetic-culminate-in-one-thing-war/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [“The construction of life is at present in the power of facts far more than of convictions, and of such facts as have scarcely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-construction-of-life-is-at-present-in-the-power-of-facts-far-more/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [“It should be pointed out that certain correlative concepts retain their meaning, and possibly their foremost significance, if they are referred exclusively to man.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/it-should-be-pointed-out-that-certain-correlative-concepts-retain/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Allegories are, in the realm of thought, what ruins are in the realm of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/allegories-are-in-the-realm-of-thought-what-ruins-are-in-the-realm-of/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Things are only mannequins and even the great world-historical events are only costumes beneath which they exchange glances with nothingness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/things-are-only-mannequins-and-even-the-great-world-historical-events/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [“to great writers, finished works weigh lighter than those fragments on which they labor their entire lives.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/to-great-writers-finished-works-weigh-lighter-than-those-fragments-on/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [All religions have honored the beggar. For he proves that in a matter at the same time as prosaic and holy, banal and regenerative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/all-religions-have-honored-the-beggar-for-he-proves-that-in-a-matter/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [The camera introduces us to unconscious optics as does psychoanalysis to unconscious impulses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-camera-introduces-us-to-unconscious-optics-as-does-psychoanalysis/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [During long periods of history, the mode of human sense perception changes with humanity’s entire mode of existence. The manner in which human sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/during-long-periods-of-history-the-mode-of-human-sense-perception/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Melancholy betrays the world for the sake of knowledge. But in its tenacious self-absorption it embraces dead objects in its contemplation, in order to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/melancholy-betrays-the-world-for-the-sake-of-knowledge-but-in-its/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [For what is the program of the bourgeois parties? A bad poem on springtime, filled to bursting with metaphors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/for-what-is-the-program-of-the-bourgeois-parties-a-bad-poem-on/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [There was the pedestrian who wedged himself into the crowd, but there was also the flneur who demanded elbow room and was unwilling to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/there-was-the-pedestrian-who-wedged-himself-into-the-crowd-but-there/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [The power of a text is different when it is read from when it is copied out. Only the copied text thus commands the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-power-of-a-text-is-different-when-it-is-read-from-when-it-is/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Quotations in my work are like wayside robbers who leap out armed and relieve the stroller of his conviction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/quotations-in-my-work-are-like-wayside-robbers-who-leap-out-armed-and/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Each morning the day lies like a fresh shirt on our bed; this incomparably fine, incomparably tightly woven tissue of pure prediction fits us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/each-morning-the-day-lies-like-a-fresh-shirt-on-our-bed-this/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) [Explore all 207 Walter Benjamin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) ## More Beggar quotes > [If some beggar steals a bridle he'll be hung by a man who's stolen a horse. There's no surer justice in the world than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peire-cardenal/if-some-beggar-steals-a-bridle-he-ll-be-hung-by-a-man-who-s-stolen-a/) Peire Cardenal > [Literary tradition is full of lies about poverty-the jolly beggar, the poor but happy milkmaid, the wholesome diet of porridge, etc.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/literary-tradition-is-full-of-lies-about-poverty-the-jolly-beggar-the/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [“Why remain polite but powerless, in love but a beggar?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-thayer-hamann/why-remain-polite-but-powerless-in-love-but-a-beggar/) [Hilary Thayer Hamann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-thayer-hamann/) > [Don't be doubtful to your goals or else you will end up your life as a beggar, keep faith on yourself and you will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/athar-azeem/don-t-be-doubtful-to-your-goals-or-else-you-will-end-up-your-life-as/) [Athar Azeem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/athar-azeem/) > [Poets and beggars, musicians and prophets, warriors and scoundrels, all creatures of that unbridled reality, we have had to ask but little of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eduardo-galeano/poets-and-beggars-musicians-and-prophets-warriors-and-scoundrels-all/) [Eduardo Galeano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eduardo-galeano/) > [Beggars fear no rebellion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/proverb/beggars-fear-no-rebellion/) Proverb > [Hurrah for revolution and more cannon-shot! A beggar upon horseback lashes a beggar on foot. Hurrah for revolution and cannon come again! The beggars…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/hurrah-for-revolution-and-more-cannon-shot-a-beggar-upon-horseback/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [You obviously don't know what an Old Man of the Sea great wealth is. It is not a fat purse and time to spend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/you-obviously-don-t-know-what-an-old-man-of-the-sea-great-wealth-is/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [Make of the Silence your to-do tasks, of the compassion your wealth and of the meditation your beggar's bowl.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guru-nanak/make-of-the-silence-your-to-do-tasks-of-the-compassion-your-wealth/) [Guru Nanak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guru-nanak/) > [Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow-citizens.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-smith/nobody-but-a-beggar-chooses-to-depend-chiefly-upon-the-benevolence-of/) [Adam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-smith/) > [All religions have honored the beggar. For he proves that in a matter at the same time as prosaic and holy, banal and regenerative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/all-religions-have-honored-the-beggar-for-he-proves-that-in-a-matter/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [I'll not meddle with it. It makes a man a coward: a man cannot steal but it accuseth him; a man cannot swear but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/i-ll-not-meddle-with-it-it-makes-a-man-a-coward-a-man-cannot-steal/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [A beggar through the world am I, From place to place I wander by. Fill up my pilgrim's scrip for me, For Christ's sweet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-russell-lowell/a-beggar-through-the-world-am-i-from-place-to-place-i-wander-by-fill/) [James Russell Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-russell-lowell/) > [The bashful beggar has an empty purse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-cranch-bond/the-bashful-beggar-has-an-empty-purse/) [William Cranch Bond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-cranch-bond/) > [“A coin is examined, and only after careful deliberation, given to a beggar, whereas a child is flung out into the cosmic brutality without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-wessel-zapffe/a-coin-is-examined-and-only-after-careful-deliberation-given-to-a/) [Peter Wessel Zapffe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-wessel-zapffe/) Browse all 455 Beggar quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "As long as there is still one beggar around, there will still be myth.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Walter Benjamin" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/as-long-as-there-is-still-one-beggar-around-there-will-still-be-myth/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Beggar" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/as-long-as-there-is-still-one-beggar-around-there-will-still-be-myth/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce2/walter-benjamin-1723_beggar_as-long-as-there-is-still-one-beggar-aro_1899345.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce2/walter-benjamin-1723_beggar_as-long-as-there-is-still-one-beggar-aro_1899345.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce2/walter-benjamin-1723_beggar_as-long-as-there-is-still-one-beggar-aro_1899345.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“As long as there is still one beggar around, there will still be myth.” — Walter Benjamin", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Walter Benjamin", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "As long as there is still...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/as-long-as-there-is-still-one-beggar-around-there-will-still-be-myth/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/as-long-as-there-is-still-one-beggar-around-there-will-still-be-myth/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```