--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This is how one pictures the angel of…" description: "\"This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceived a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a67/walter-benjamin-1723_angel_this-is-how-one-pictures-the-angel-of-hi_3210496.jpg" --- # This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is… ![“This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceived a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been…” quote by Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a67/walter-benjamin-1723_angel_this-is-how-one-pictures-the-angel-of-hi_3210496.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a67/walter-benjamin-1723_angel_this-is-how-one-pictures-the-angel-of-hi_3210496.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a67/walter-benjamin-1723_angel_this-is-how-one-pictures-the-angel-of-hi_3210496.jpg) > “This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceived a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. This storm irresistably propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. The storm is what we call progress.” [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. Benjamin portrays history as a relentless, destructive force that pushes humanity forward while accumulating wreckage, suggesting progress is both inevitable and catastrophic. **In simple terms:** History is a storm that drives us forward, leaving ruin behind. Key Takeaway Recognize the cost of progress and seek to heal past harms. Themes history progress destruction Mood reflective somber Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - social movements - urban planning - environmental policy - personal reflection Key Concepts philosophy critical theory Questions to Reflect On - How can we balance forward motion with repairing past damage? - What responsibilities do we have toward historical wreckage? A Different Perspective Progress may ignore or exacerbate existing suffering. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Angel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/angel/) [Catastrophe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/catastrophe/) [Chain of events](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chain-of-events/) [Chains](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chains/) [Events](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/events/) [Faces](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faces/) [Historical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/historical/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Paradise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paradise/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Progress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/progress/) [Violence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/violence/) ## Related quotes > [The face of the angel of history is turned toward the past. Where we perceived a chain of events, he sees a single catastrophe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/the-face-of-the-angel-of-history-is-turned-toward-the-past-where-we/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [“A Klee painting named 'Angelus Novus' shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/a-klee-painting-named-angelus-novus-shows-an-angel-looking-as-though/) [Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-benjamin/) > [Walter Benjamin has this notion of the angel of history and in a way that's paradoxical itself. We don't have angels in history anymore.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-stern/walter-benjamin-has-this-notion-of-the-angel-of-history-and-in-a-way/) [Steve Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-stern/) > [They played Boston. 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Everything happened according to an inner need.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-my-life-s-chain-of-events-nothing-was-accidental-everything/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an "objective correlative"; in other words, a set of objects,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-only-way-of-expressing-emotion-in-the-form-of-art-is-by-finding/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Whatever happens, they say afterwards, it must have been fate. People are always a little confused about this, as they are in the case…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/whatever-happens-they-say-afterwards-it-must-have-been-fate-people/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [The success that comes from my books is not something I feel very comfortable with. Past a certain point you have to accept the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-garland/the-success-that-comes-from-my-books-is-not-something-i-feel-very/) [Alex Garland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-garland/) ## 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 Angel quotes > [A man walks down the street. It's a street in a strange world. Maybe it's the third world. Maybe it's his first time around.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-simon/a-man-walks-down-the-street-it-s-a-street-in-a-strange-world-maybe-it/) [Paul Simon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-simon/) > [If I wer an angel,i would make all your wishes come true..but I'm only a girl a girl who loves you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nix/if-i-wer-an-angel-i-would-make-all-your-wishes-come-true-but-i-m-only/) [Nix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nix/) > [Peace is the first thing the angels sang. Peace is the mark of the children of God. Peace is the nurse of love. Peace…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-leo-i/peace-is-the-first-thing-the-angels-sang-peace-is-the-mark-of-the/) [Pope Leo I](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-leo-i/) > [“Every child is born as angel.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/every-child-is-born-as-angel/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“Behind my eyelids, I saw him dancing in spirals of coloured light, emerald, blue, and brilliant purple, enfolding him like the wings of an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexis-hall/behind-my-eyelids-i-saw-him-dancing-in-spirals-of-coloured-light/) [Alexis Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexis-hall/) > [All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/all-that-i-am-or-ever-hope-to-be-i-owe-to-my-angel-mother/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [I don't think people will ever forget I was an 'Angel,' anymore than they'll forget Sally Field was 'The Flying Nun.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cheryl-ladd/i-don-t-think-people-will-ever-forget-i-was-an-angel-anymore-than/) [Cheryl Ladd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cheryl-ladd/) > [It's a great story for us whenever an entrepreneur makes a crazy amount of money and we get to tell the world about it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-lacy/it-s-a-great-story-for-us-whenever-an-entrepreneur-makes-a-crazy/) [Sarah Lacy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-lacy/) > [I believe in UFOs, I believe in extraterrestrials, and I believe in angels. And maybe they'll protect all of us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-maclaine/i-believe-in-ufos-i-believe-in-extraterrestrials-and-i-believe-in/) [Shirley MacLaine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-maclaine/) > [Sometimes we have the absolute certainty there's something inside us that's so hideous and monstrous that if we ever search it out we won't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hubert-selby-jr/sometimes-we-have-the-absolute-certainty-there-s-something-inside-us/) [Hubert Selby, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hubert-selby-jr/) > [Flowers are the alphabet of angels, whereby they write on the hills and fields mysterious truths.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/flowers-are-the-alphabet-of-angels-whereby-they-write-on-the-hills/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [You should never feel lonely, neglected, fearful, or defeated when you remember that there are the shining ones. 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"this is it", he said, standing by a small khaki-colored jeep."this car…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-evanovich/mooner-was-walking-around-laying-his-hands-on-the-cars-divining-karma/) [Janet Evanovich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-evanovich/) [Browse all 4,625 Angel quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/angel/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceived a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. This storm irresistably propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. 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