The good man is he who rules himself as he does his own property: his autonomous being is modelled on material power.

The task of art today is to bring chaos into order.

Today self-consciousness no longer means anything but reflection on the ego as embarrassment, as realization of impotence: knowing that one is nothing.

Horror is beyond the reach of psychology.

The hardest hit, as everywhere, are those who have no choice.

The almost insoluble task is to let neither the power of others, nor our own powerlessness, stupefy us.

Estrangement shows itself precisely in the elimination of distance between people.

Everything that has ever been called folk art has always reflected domination.

He who stands aloof runs the risk of believing himself better than others and misusing his critique of society as an ideology for his private interest.

All satire is blind to the forces liberated by decay. Which is why total decay has absorbed the forces of satire.

Anti-Semitism is the rumour about the Jews.

Domination delegates the physical violence on which it rests to the dominated.

Exuberant health is always, as such, sickness also.

For a man who no longer has a homeland, writing becomes a place to live.

In the abstract conception of universal wrong, all concrete responsibility vanishes.

Insane sects grow with the same rhythm as big organizations. It is the rhythm of total destruction.

Lies are told only to convey to someone that one has no need either of him or his good opinion.

Quality is decided by the depth at which the work incorporates the alternatives within itself, and so masters them.

Technology is making gestures precise and brutal, and with them men.

The culture industry not so much adapts to the reactions of its customers as it counterfeits them.