Thursday, April 17, 2008

Trifling

From Theodor Adorno, Minima Moralia (thanks to Andy Lynn for the passage):
No improvement is too small or trivial to be worthwhile. Of a hundred alterations each may seem trifling or pedantic by itself; together they can raise the text to a new level. . . Should the finished text, no matter of what length, arouse even the slightest misgivings, these should be taken inordinately seriously, to a degree out of all proportion to their apparent importance.

1 comment:

  1. I'm glad to see someone still reads Adorno. He was one of the staples of my university days in Heidelberg - which obviously reveals my age!

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