--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Literature tells very little to those who…" description: "\"Literature tells very little to those who understand it.\" — Walter Benjamin" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6a/walter-benjamin-1723_books_literature-tells-very-little-to-those-wh_1047607.jpg" --- # Literature tells very little to those who understand it. ![“Literature tells very little to those who understand it.” quote by Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6a/walter-benjamin-1723_books_literature-tells-very-little-to-those-wh_1047607.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6a/walter-benjamin-1723_books_literature-tells-very-little-to-those-wh_1047607.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6a/walter-benjamin-1723_books_literature-tells-very-little-to-those-wh_1047607.jpg) > “Literature tells very little to those who understand it.” [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. Literature often fails to convey its deeper significance to those who truly grasp its nuances. **In simple terms:** Literature hides meaning from true readers. Key Takeaway Seek deeper analysis beyond surface reading. Themes interpretation literature understanding Mood thoughtful intellectual Type philosophical educational When to use this quote - book clubs - academic seminars - personal journaling Key Concepts critical theory aesthetics Questions to Reflect On - How can you help others uncover hidden layers? - What tools aid deeper literary appreciation? A Different Perspective Not all readers have the background to decode complex texts. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Literature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature/) [Literature Tells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literature-tells-2485936/) [Little Understand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/little-understand-445954/) [Littles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/littles/) [Tells Little](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tells-little-910660/) [Understand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understand/) ## Related quotes > [“There is no valid reason for the perennial Christian preference of biography, history, and the newspaper to fiction and poetry. The former tell us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leland-ryken/there-is-no-valid-reason-for-the-perennial-christian-preference-of/) [Leland Ryken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leland-ryken/) > [Literature more often tells the story of impulses we don't act on than of ones we do. I could joke about the Cain and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-jacobson/literature-more-often-tells-the-story-of-impulses-we-don-t-act-on/) [Howard Jacobson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-jacobson/) > [Everyone tells me to give up on you, but when I was little I was told to never give up on my dreams.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/obviously-me-p/everyone-tells-me-to-give-up-on-you-but-when-i-was-little-i-was-told/) [Obviously Me :p](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/obviously-me-p/) > [All that we were has led us to where we are, but tells us little of where we’re going. Memories are a weight you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-erikson/all-that-we-were-has-led-us-to-where-we-are-but-tells-us-little-of/) [Steven Erikson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-erikson/) > [“nobody tells us as little girls that we may fall in love and have moments of hating our beloved, or have ridiculous arguments at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sark/nobody-tells-us-as-little-girls-that-we-may-fall-in-love-and-have/) [SARK](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sark/) > [“There is very little you understand about my world, Juliette.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahereh-mafi/there-is-very-little-you-understand-about-my-world-juliette/) [Tahereh Mafi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahereh-mafi/) > [True knowledge comes to each of us when we notice how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/true-knowledge-comes-to-each-of-us-when-we-notice-how-little-we/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Don't express your ideas too clearly. Most people think little of what they understand, and venerate what they do not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baltasar-gracian/don-t-express-your-ideas-too-clearly-most-people-think-little-of-what/) [Baltasar Gracian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baltasar-gracian/) > [“People understand me so little that they do not even understand when I complain of being misunderstood.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-ren-kierkegaard/people-understand-me-so-little-that-they-do-not-even-understand-when/) [Søren Kierkegaard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-ren-kierkegaard/) > [Society needs to condemn a little more and understand a little less.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-major/society-needs-to-condemn-a-little-more-and-understand-a-little-less/) [John Major](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-major/) > [To know a little less and to understand a little more: that, it seems to me, is our greatest need.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-ramsey-ullman/to-know-a-little-less-and-to-understand-a-little-more-that-it-seems/) [James Ramsey Ullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-ramsey-ullman/) > [They understand but a little who understand only what can be explained.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-von-ebner-eschenbach/they-understand-but-a-little-who-understand-only-what-can-be-explained/) [Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-von-ebner-eschenbach/) > [“How little we understand of the gifts we have been given or the shape of the path we took to reach our salvation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harley-king/how-little-we-understand-of-the-gifts-we-have-been-given-or-the-shape/) [Harley King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harley-king/) > [There are ten men in me and I do not know or understand one of them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/there-are-ten-men-in-me-and-i-do-not-know-or-understand-one-of-them/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [ He \[an earnest young reporter\] seemed to share the view of many intelligent, well-educated, well-meaning people that, while adult literature may aim to be… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-paterson/he-an-earnest-young-reporter-seemed-to-share-the-view-of-many/) [Katherine Paterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-paterson/) ## 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 Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) [Christopher K. Krebs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-k-krebs/) > [“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/take-some-books-and-read-that-s-an-immense-help-and-books-are-always/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) [Markus Herz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/markus-herz/) > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Literature tells very little to those who understand it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Walter Benjamin" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/literature-tells-very-little-to-those-who-understand-it/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Books" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/literature-tells-very-little-to-those-who-understand-it/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6a/walter-benjamin-1723_books_literature-tells-very-little-to-those-wh_1047607.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6a/walter-benjamin-1723_books_literature-tells-very-little-to-those-wh_1047607.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6a/walter-benjamin-1723_books_literature-tells-very-little-to-those-wh_1047607.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Literature tells very little to those who understand it.” — 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": "Literature tells very little to those...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/literature-tells-very-little-to-those-who-understand-it/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/literature-tells-very-little-to-those-who-understand-it/#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 } } ] } ```