--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What matters for the dialectician is…" description: "\"“What matters for the dialectician is having the wind of world history in his sails. Thinking for him means: to set the sails. It is the way they are s..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e1/walter-benjamin-1723_dialectics_what-matters-for-the-dialectician-is-hav_2476605.jpg" --- # What matters for the dialectician is having the wind of… ![“What matters for the dialectician is having the wind of world history in his sails. Thinking for him means: to set the sails. It is the way they are set that matters. Words are his sails. The way they are set turns them into concepts.” quote by Walter Benjamin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e1/walter-benjamin-1723_dialectics_what-matters-for-the-dialectician-is-hav_2476605.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e1/walter-benjamin-1723_dialectics_what-matters-for-the-dialectician-is-hav_2476605.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e1/walter-benjamin-1723_dialectics_what-matters-for-the-dialectician-is-hav_2476605.jpg) > ““What matters for the dialectician is having the wind of world history in his sails. Thinking for him means: to set the sails. It is the way they are set that matters. Words are his sails. The way they are set turns them into concepts.”” [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. The dialectician must align his language with the forces of history, shaping words into concepts that drive change. **In simple terms:** Use words as tools to navigate history. Key Takeaway Align language with historical currents. Themes philosophy history language agency Mood reflective critical Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - political activism - academic writing - strategic communication Key Concepts Dialectics concept formation historical materialism Questions to Reflect On - How can you shape your speech to influence current events? - What concepts emerge when you align language with history? A Different Perspective Words alone cannot change material conditions without action. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Dialectics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dialectics/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Matters Dialectician](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/matters-dialectician-818508/) [Matters Words](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/matters-words-721723/) [Sails Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sails-thinking-818506/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Thinking Means](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking-means-818507/) [World history](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world-history/) ## Related quotes > [Society matters not so much. Words are everything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-auchincloss/society-matters-not-so-much-words-are-everything/) [Louis Auchincloss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-auchincloss/) > [“It doesn't matter how a novel was printed. What matters are the words in between the pages.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giuseppe-bianco/it-doesn-t-matter-how-a-novel-was-printed-what-matters-are-the-words/) [Giuseppe Bianco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giuseppe-bianco/) > [“Words matter, but what matters more than words is forgiveness and compassion.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-l-alder/words-matter-but-what-matters-more-than-words-is-forgiveness-and/) [Shannon L. Alder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shannon-l-alder/) > [what we call things matters. ... The words we use, and how we perceive those words, reflect how we value, or devalue, people, places,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/what-we-call-things-matters-the-words-we-use-and-how-we-perceive/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [“Khamoshi se matlab nahi, matlab baato se hain Din toh guzar hi jaaenge, masla raato se hain —Wajid shaikh Literal Translation It's not the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wajid-shaikh/khamoshi-se-matlab-nahi-matlab-baato-se-hain-din-toh-guzar-hi-jaaenge/) [Wajid Shaikh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wajid-shaikh/) > [“Speech does not always unravel matters. Words can betray you, their labyrinthine threads tangled in knots, for we were cursed at that great tower…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ned-hayes/speech-does-not-always-unravel-matters-words-can-betray-you-their/) [Ned Hayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ned-hayes/) > ["Facilitate my thinking" means thinking about who I am as a human being in relation to the world around me. It's how I position…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/truong-tran/facilitate-my-thinking-means-thinking-about-who-i-am-as-a-human-being/) [Truong Tran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/truong-tran/) > [Whenever she uses the phrase 'I was thinking...,' that means I either have to move, paint or buy something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-ferrara/whenever-she-uses-the-phrase-i-was-thinking-that-means-i-either-have/) [Adam Ferrara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-ferrara/) > [For me, intuitive thinking means associative thinking; intuition causes us to introduce narrative or figurative elements into a poem before we're able to explain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/for-me-intuitive-thinking-means-associative-thinking-intuition-causes/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) > [Thinking means connecting things, and stops if they cannot be connected.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/thinking-means-connecting-things-and-stops-if-they-cannot-be-connected/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Intelligent thinking means an increment of freedom in action-an emancipation from chance and fatality. 'Thought' represents the suggestion of a way of response that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/intelligent-thinking-means-an-increment-of-freedom-in-action-an/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [When you are practicing zazen, do not try to stop your thinking. Let it stop by itself. If something comes into your mind, let…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shunryu-suzuki/when-you-are-practicing-zazen-do-not-try-to-stop-your-thinking-let-it/) [Shunryu Suzuki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shunryu-suzuki/) > [“Nonlinear thinking means which way you should go depends on where you already are.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jordan-ellenberg/nonlinear-thinking-means-which-way-you-should-go-depends-on-where-you/) [Jordan Ellenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jordan-ellenberg/) > [Da Thought To Think About Thinking, Means Your Still Thinking, Because Your Unprepared An Not Ready…. ëëëKlearlyûûû](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mrjaypee/da-thought-to-think-about-thinking-means-your-still-thinking-because/) [MrJayPee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mrjaypee/) > [Reading is merely a surrogate for thinking for yourself; it means letting someone else direct your thoughts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-schopenhauer/reading-is-merely-a-surrogate-for-thinking-for-yourself-it-means/) [Arthur Schopenhauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-schopenhauer/) ## 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 Dialectics quotes > [Modern man, seeking a middle position in the evaluation of sense impression and thought, can, following Plato , interpret the process of understanding nature…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-pauli/modern-man-seeking-a-middle-position-in-the-evaluation-of-sense/) [Wolfgang Pauli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-pauli/) > [It was not by dialectic that it pleased God to save His people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose/it-was-not-by-dialectic-that-it-pleased-god-to-save-his-people/) [Ambrose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose/) > [I can't agree that what we're seeing is a matter of the American bourgeoisie confronting workers everywhere. It's more like the international plutocracy eliminating…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hendrik-hertzberg/i-can-t-agree-that-what-we-re-seeing-is-a-matter-of-the-american/) [Hendrik Hertzberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hendrik-hertzberg/) > [In some ways I consider myself more Chinese, because I live in San Francisco, which is becoming a predominantly Asian city. I avoid falling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rodriguez/in-some-ways-i-consider-myself-more-chinese-because-i-live-in-san/) [Richard Rodriguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rodriguez/) > [A lot of what I've written in criticism of my lust for virtue - my discovery that I've committed idolatry, making of the good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/a-lot-of-what-i-ve-written-in-criticism-of-my-lust-for-virtue-my/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Novelists are perhaps the last people in the world to be entrusted with opinions. The nature of a novel is that it has no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/novelists-are-perhaps-the-last-people-in-the-world-to-be-entrusted/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [I consider that in dialectics I am the equal of Socrates. As to women, I agree that each has three or four souls, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henryk-sienkiewicz/i-consider-that-in-dialectics-i-am-the-equal-of-socrates-as-to-women/) [Henryk Sienkiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henryk-sienkiewicz/) > [I'm an optimist in my heart - I'm a hopeless pollyanna just like my mother - but a pessimist in my head. I think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-ayers/i-m-an-optimist-in-my-heart-i-m-a-hopeless-pollyanna-just-like-my/) [Bill Ayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-ayers/) > [With an ear open to your musical dialectic, one can be young and become old, can work and rest, be content and sad: in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-barth/with-an-ear-open-to-your-musical-dialectic-one-can-be-young-and/) [Karl Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-barth/) > [I want a big man physically as well as intellectually. l want a man with the thigh muscles to give me a good frolic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madalyn-murray-o-hair/i-want-a-big-man-physically-as-well-as-intellectually-l-want-a-man/) [Madalyn Murray O'Hair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madalyn-murray-o-hair/) > [A whole generation of writers dined out on the dialectic between original cultures and their culture by "progress.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatole-broyard/a-whole-generation-of-writers-dined-out-on-the-dialectic-between/) [Anatole Broyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatole-broyard/) > [Aristotle can be regarded as the father of logic. But his logic is too scholastic, full of subtleties, and fundamentally has not been of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/immanuel-kant/aristotle-can-be-regarded-as-the-father-of-logic-but-his-logic-is-too/) [Immanuel Kant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/immanuel-kant/) > [Now he began to see for the first time the unbelievable magnitude of what man, when he gained power to understand and rule the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/now-he-began-to-see-for-the-first-time-the-unbelievable-magnitude-of/) [Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/) > [“In place of dialectics, life had arrived.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dostoyevsky/in-place-of-dialectics-life-had-arrived/) [Dostoyevsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dostoyevsky/) > [I always cringe when a male friend of mine, who's very fixated on women, puts "compatibility" at the top of his list of attributes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-ellroy/i-always-cringe-when-a-male-friend-of-mine-who-s-very-fixated-on/) [James Ellroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-ellroy/) [Browse all 75 Dialectics quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dialectics/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“What matters for the dialectician is having the wind of world history in his sails. Thinking for him means: to set the sails. It is the way they are set that matters. Words are his sails. The way they are set turns them into concepts.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Walter Benjamin" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/what-matters-for-the-dialectician-is-having-the-wind-of-world-history/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Dialectics" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/what-matters-for-the-dialectician-is-having-the-wind-of-world-history/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e1/walter-benjamin-1723_dialectics_what-matters-for-the-dialectician-is-hav_2476605.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e1/walter-benjamin-1723_dialectics_what-matters-for-the-dialectician-is-hav_2476605.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e1/walter-benjamin-1723_dialectics_what-matters-for-the-dialectician-is-hav_2476605.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“What matters for the dialectician is having the wind of world history in his sails. Thinking for him means…” — 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": "“What matters for the dialectician is...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/what-matters-for-the-dialectician-is-having-the-wind-of-world-history/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-benjamin/what-matters-for-the-dialectician-is-having-the-wind-of-world-history/#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 } } ] } ```