--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In the fields with which we are…" description: "\"In the fields with which we are concerned, knowledge comes only in flashes. The text is the thunder rolling long afterward.\" — Walter Benjamin" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29a/walter-benjamin-1723_concerned_in-the-fields-with-which-we-are-concerne_2932132.jpg" --- # In the fields with which we are concerned, knowledge comes… ![“In the fields with which we are concerned, knowledge comes only in flashes. The text is the thunder rolling long afterward.” quote by Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29a/walter-benjamin-1723_concerned_in-the-fields-with-which-we-are-concerne_2932132.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29a/walter-benjamin-1723_concerned_in-the-fields-with-which-we-are-concerne_2932132.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29a/walter-benjamin-1723_concerned_in-the-fields-with-which-we-are-concerne_2932132.jpg) > “In the fields with which we are concerned, knowledge comes only in flashes. The text is the thunder rolling long afterward.” [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. Knowledge appears in sudden insights; the lasting impact of ideas unfolds slowly over time. **In simple terms:** Insights flash, impact lingers. Key Takeaway Embrace moments of insight. Themes knowledge insight time Mood introspective analytical Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - research breakthroughs - creative inspiration - learning cycles Key Concepts epistemology cognitive process Questions to Reflect On - How do you capture fleeting insights? - What sustains ideas after the flash? A Different Perspective Insights may be fleeting. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) [Thunder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thunder/) ## Related quotes > [Epistemologists should be concerned with knowledge and justification and so on, not our concepts of them; philosophers of mind should be concerned with various…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-kornblith/epistemologists-should-be-concerned-with-knowledge-and-justification/) [Hilary Kornblith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-kornblith/) > [I'm very simple. I'm not for the flashes, I'm not for glitz and glamour, you know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-garnett/i-m-very-simple-i-m-not-for-the-flashes-i-m-not-for-glitz-and-glamour/) [Kevin Garnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-garnett/) > [You get too excited over big flashes, Tunstall. Mages rely on that to make you think they have more power than you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tamora-pierce/you-get-too-excited-over-big-flashes-tunstall-mages-rely-on-that-to/) [Tamora Pierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tamora-pierce/) > [Knowledge does not come to us in details, but in flashes of light from heaven.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/knowledge-does-not-come-to-us-in-details-but-in-flashes-of-light-from/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [At first it seems as if begoing follows becoming. But look even closer and you will see that there are only flashes of lightning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adyashanti/at-first-it-seems-as-if-begoing-follows-becoming-but-look-even-closer/) [Adyashanti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adyashanti/) > [To see him act is like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-taylor-coleridge/to-see-him-act-is-like-reading-shakespeare-by-flashes-of-lightning/) [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-taylor-coleridge/) > [I mean, my father was killed when I was six. And I only have tiny, tiny flashes of memory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristin-scott-thomas/i-mean-my-father-was-killed-when-i-was-six-and-i-only-have-tiny-tiny/) [Kristin Scott Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristin-scott-thomas/) > [Oh, we're very careful, Marilla. And it's so interesting. Two flashes means, "Are you there?" Three means "yes" and four "no." Five means, "Come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/oh-we-re-very-careful-marilla-and-it-s-so-interesting-two-flashes/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Life's not linear at all. It happens in lighting flashes. So fast you don't see those lay-you-out cold moments coming at you until you're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-marie-moning/life-s-not-linear-at-all-it-happens-in-lighting-flashes-so-fast-you/) [Karen Marie Moning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-marie-moning/) > [I'm a very creative person, and you know when I hooked up with Benny Boom, I said I want it to be a different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swizz-beatz/i-m-a-very-creative-person-and-you-know-when-i-hooked-up-with-benny/) [Swizz Beatz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swizz-beatz/) > [And I'll tell you, I've seen the lightning flash. I've heard the thunder roll. I felt sin-breakers dashing, trying to conquer my soul. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-luther/and-i-ll-tell-you-i-ve-seen-the-lightning-flash-i-ve-heard-the/) [Martin Luther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-luther/) > [Oh! now to be alone, on some grand height, Where heaven’s black curtains shadow all the sight, And watch the swollen clouds their bosom…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-montgomery/oh-now-to-be-alone-on-some-grand-height-where-heaven-s-black-curtains/) [Robert Montgomery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-montgomery/) > [Loud o'er my head though awful thunders roll, And vivid lightnings flash from pole to pole, Yet 'tis Thy voice, my God, that bids…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-scott/loud-o-er-my-head-though-awful-thunders-roll-and-vivid-lightnings/) [Walter Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-scott/) > [“It all keeps coming back in flashes. Churns you, burns you till it turns you into ashes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richa-pandey/it-all-keeps-coming-back-in-flashes-churns-you-burns-you-till-it/) [Richa Pandey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richa-pandey/) > [It is a common fact that we see light flashes in a dark environment while living up here, and this experiment is essentially trying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunita-williams/it-is-a-common-fact-that-we-see-light-flashes-in-a-dark-environment/) [Sunita Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunita-williams/) ## 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 Concerned quotes > [I don't think there's a direct correlation between my sexuality and my skiing ability. 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I am more concerned with continuity of ideas and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-oliveira/i-am-not-the-avant-garde-i-am-the-artist-who-comes-after-the/) [Nathan Oliveira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-oliveira/) > [What I was concerned about when I wrote the 'Downward Spiral' record was being a self-centred destructive force. The point was tearing down everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trent-reznor/what-i-was-concerned-about-when-i-wrote-the-downward-spiral-record/) [Trent Reznor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trent-reznor/) > [Listening is a very active awareness of the coming together of at least two lives. Listening, as far as I'm concerned, is certainly a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fred-rogers/listening-is-a-very-active-awareness-of-the-coming-together-of-at/) [Fred Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fred-rogers/) > [I am no different from a lot of people. I am concerned for the future of my children and concerned for the future of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-barnes/i-am-no-different-from-a-lot-of-people-i-am-concerned-for-the-future/) [John Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-barnes/) > [As far as Japan is concerned, I want to help all of our allies, but we are losing billions and billions of dollars. We…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/as-far-as-japan-is-concerned-i-want-to-help-all-of-our-allies-but-we/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [The time has come when the whole world must be concerned about me. From now on, American Christianity must follow me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-myung-moon/the-time-has-come-when-the-whole-world-must-be-concerned-about-me/) [Sun Myung Moon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-myung-moon/) > [If you read 'Lord of the Rings' and dismiss it as a lie because it has orcs and elves, you're missing the whole point…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doug-tennapel/if-you-read-lord-of-the-rings-and-dismiss-it-as-a-lie-because-it-has/) [Doug TenNapel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doug-tennapel/) > [Ideal for the child and society in the best of times, Rudolf Steiner's brilliant process of education is critically needed and profoundly relevant now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-chilton-pearce/ideal-for-the-child-and-society-in-the-best-of-times-rudolf-steiner-s/) [Joseph Chilton Pearce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-chilton-pearce/) > [I feel like I won the Lotto, as far as that show's concerned.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-gallagher/i-feel-like-i-won-the-lotto-as-far-as-that-show-s-concerned/) [Peter Gallagher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-gallagher/) > [I was strictly after hits when it came down to the Jackson 5. 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