--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Uncleanness is so much the attribute of…" description: "\"Uncleanness is so much the attribute of officials that one could almost regard them as enormous parasites...In the same way the fathers in Kafka's stra..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dab/walter-benjamin-1723_accusers_uncleanness-is-so-much-the-attribute-of_1600507.jpg" --- # Uncleanness is so much the attribute of officials that one… ![“Uncleanness is so much the attribute of officials that one could almost regard them as enormous parasites...In the same way the fathers in Kafka's strange families batten on their sons, lying on top of them like giant parasites. They not only prey upon their strength, but gnaw away at the sons'…” quote by Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dab/walter-benjamin-1723_accusers_uncleanness-is-so-much-the-attribute-of_1600507.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dab/walter-benjamin-1723_accusers_uncleanness-is-so-much-the-attribute-of_1600507.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dab/walter-benjamin-1723_accusers_uncleanness-is-so-much-the-attribute-of_1600507.jpg) > “Uncleanness is so much the attribute of officials that one could almost regard them as enormous parasites...In the same way the fathers in Kafka's strange families batten on their sons, lying on top of them like giant parasites. They not only prey upon their strength, but gnaw away at the sons' right to exist. The fathers punish, but they are at the same time the accusers. The sin of which they accuse their sons seems to be a kind of original sin.” [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. Officials and fathers are depicted as parasitic, draining power and identity from those they dominate, creating a cycle of accusation and oppression. **In simple terms:** Powerful figures can become parasitic, harming those they control. Key Takeaway Beware and oppressive authority. Themes power authority family oppression identity Mood critical reflective Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - political analysis - family dynamics - personal empowerment - social critique Key Concepts parasite metaphor original sin accusation psychological domination Questions to Reflect On - How do we recognize parasitic authority? - What steps can break cycles of oppression? A Different Perspective Parasitic relationships can also be self‑sustaining, making change difficult. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Accuse Sons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accuse-sons-6085884/) [Accusers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accusers/) [Attributes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attributes/) [Enormous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enormous/) [Father](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/father/) [Fathers Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fathers-kafka-6085885/) [Fathers Punish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fathers-punish-6085886/) [Giants](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giants/) [Independence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/independence/) [Integrity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/integrity/) [Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kafka/) [Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kind/) [Lying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lying/) [Officials](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/officials/) [Original sin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/original-sin/) [Originals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/originals/) [Parasites](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parasites/) [Prey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prey/) [Regard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/regard/) [Seems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seems/) [Sin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sin/) [Son](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/son/) [Strange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strange/) [Uncleanness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/uncleanness-197305/) [Uncleanness Attribute](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/uncleanness-attribute-6085887/) [Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/) ## Related quotes > [“If we desire our souls to be sanctify, we shall hunger for the Truth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/if-we-desire-our-souls-to-be-sanctify-we-shall-hunger-for-the-truth/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“Uncleanness is the works of the sinful nature.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/uncleanness-is-the-works-of-the-sinful-nature/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-meyer/so-get-rid-of-all-uncleanness-and-the-rampant-outgrowth-of-wickedness/) [Joyce Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-meyer/) > [“The sinful desire of the flesh leads to uncleanness, sexual immorality, and sensuality.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/the-sinful-desire-of-the-flesh-leads-to-uncleanness-sexual-immorality/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [“In wine is truth, and the truth had all come out, "that is, all the uncleanness of his coarse and envious heart"!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fyodor-dostoyevsky/in-wine-is-truth-and-the-truth-had-all-come-out-that-is-all-the/) [Fyodor Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fyodor-dostoyevsky/) > [Is it not monstrous that our seducers should be our accusers?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laetitia-pilkington/is-it-not-monstrous-that-our-seducers-should-be-our-accusers/) [Laetitia Pilkington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laetitia-pilkington/) > [I was the accuser, God the accused. My eyes were open and I was alone - terribly alone in a world without God and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elie-wiesel/i-was-the-accuser-god-the-accused-my-eyes-were-open-and-i-was-alone/) [Elie Wiesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elie-wiesel/) > [The world does not have a voice of its own. It can't tell you what it wants, what it needs. But it's yearning for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bray-wyatt/the-world-does-not-have-a-voice-of-its-own-it-can-t-tell-you-what-it/) [Bray Wyatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bray-wyatt/) > [Asset forfeiture is a mockery of the Bill of Rights. There is no presumption of innocence, no need to prove you guilty (or even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-browne/asset-forfeiture-is-a-mockery-of-the-bill-of-rights-there-is-no/) [Harry Browne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-browne/) > [If you are corrupt and you have extra cash you are able to shut the mouth of your accuser and they will be silenced.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/if-you-are-corrupt-and-you-have-extra-cash-you-are-able-to-shut-the/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [Trust me, no tortures which the poets feign, can match the fierce, the unutterable pain, he feels, who night and day, devoid of rest,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juvenal/trust-me-no-tortures-which-the-poets-feign-can-match-the-fierce-the/) [Juvenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juvenal/) > [From the very beginning, our state and national constitutions and laws have laid great emphasis on procedural and substantive safeguards designed to assure fair…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugo-black/from-the-very-beginning-our-state-and-national-constitutions-and-laws/) [Hugo Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugo-black/) > [If one were to claim that the U.S. occupation forces in Iraq have been provided with "keys to heaven" by the Pentagon, would that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammad-marandi/if-one-were-to-claim-that-the-u-s-occupation-forces-in-iraq-have-been/) [Mohammad Marandi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammad-marandi/) > [A critical component of White House Scandal Defense 101 is rallying the partisan base. This keeps approval ratings in territory where the wheels don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-barr/a-critical-component-of-white-house-scandal-defense-101-is-rallying/) [Bob Barr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-barr/) > [I tell you, guilt dwells nowhere but in the eyes of the accuser. This men know even as they deny it, which is why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/i-tell-you-guilt-dwells-nowhere-but-in-the-eyes-of-the-accuser-this/) [R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/) ## 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 Accusers quotes > [I tell you, guilt dwells nowhere but in the eyes of the accuser. This men know even as they deny it, which is why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/i-tell-you-guilt-dwells-nowhere-but-in-the-eyes-of-the-accuser-this/) [R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/) > [A critical component of White House Scandal Defense 101 is rallying the partisan base. This keeps approval ratings in territory where the wheels don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-barr/a-critical-component-of-white-house-scandal-defense-101-is-rallying/) [Bob Barr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-barr/) > [If one were to claim that the U.S. occupation forces in Iraq have been provided with "keys to heaven" by the Pentagon, would that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammad-marandi/if-one-were-to-claim-that-the-u-s-occupation-forces-in-iraq-have-been/) [Mohammad Marandi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammad-marandi/) > [From the very beginning, our state and national constitutions and laws have laid great emphasis on procedural and substantive safeguards designed to assure fair…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugo-black/from-the-very-beginning-our-state-and-national-constitutions-and-laws/) [Hugo Black](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugo-black/) > [Trust me, no tortures which the poets feign, can match the fierce, the unutterable pain, he feels, who night and day, devoid of rest,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juvenal/trust-me-no-tortures-which-the-poets-feign-can-match-the-fierce-the/) [Juvenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juvenal/) > [If you are corrupt and you have extra cash you are able to shut the mouth of your accuser and they will be silenced.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wole-soyinka/if-you-are-corrupt-and-you-have-extra-cash-you-are-able-to-shut-the/) [Wole Soyinka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wole-soyinka/) > [Asset forfeiture is a mockery of the Bill of Rights. There is no presumption of innocence, no need to prove you guilty (or even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-browne/asset-forfeiture-is-a-mockery-of-the-bill-of-rights-there-is-no/) [Harry Browne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-browne/) > [The world does not have a voice of its own. It can't tell you what it wants, what it needs. But it's yearning for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bray-wyatt/the-world-does-not-have-a-voice-of-its-own-it-can-t-tell-you-what-it/) [Bray Wyatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bray-wyatt/) > [I was the accuser, God the accused. My eyes were open and I was alone - terribly alone in a world without God and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elie-wiesel/i-was-the-accuser-god-the-accused-my-eyes-were-open-and-i-was-alone/) [Elie Wiesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elie-wiesel/) > [Is it not monstrous that our seducers should be our accusers?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laetitia-pilkington/is-it-not-monstrous-that-our-seducers-should-be-our-accusers/) [Laetitia Pilkington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laetitia-pilkington/) > [The best apology against false accusers is silence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-milton/the-best-apology-against-false-accusers-is-silence/) [John Milton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-milton/) > [More details coming out about Michael Jackson. It seems his 13-year-old accuser testified before a grand jury that Michael had seven locks on his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-leno/more-details-coming-out-about-michael-jackson-it-seems-his-13-year/) [Jay Leno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-leno/) > [“It was part of his nature to extenuate nothing and live on as one of his own worst accusers.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/it-was-part-of-his-nature-to-extenuate-nothing-and-live-on-as-one-of/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) > [At my advanced age, I know I am not an anti-Semite, not even vaguely or remotely, but others would seem to know better, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-leunig/at-my-advanced-age-i-know-i-am-not-an-anti-semite-not-even-vaguely-or/) [Michael Leunig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-leunig/) > [“Don't waste your time trying to provide people with proof of deceit, in order to keep their love, win their love or salvage their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-l-alder/don-t-waste-your-time-trying-to-provide-people-with-proof-of-deceit/) [Shannon L. Alder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shannon-l-alder/) [Browse all 51 Accusers quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accusers/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Uncleanness is so much the attribute of officials that one could almost regard them as enormous parasites...In the same way the fathers in Kafka's strange families batten on their sons, lying on top of them like giant parasites. They not only prey upon their strength, but gnaw away at the sons' right to exist. The fathers punish, but they are at the same time the accusers. 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