Soren Kierkegaard Quotes
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I am convinced that God is love, this thought has for me a primitive lyrical validity. When it is present to me, I am unspeakably blissful, when it is absent, I long for it more vehemently than does the lover for his object.
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Death cannot explain itself. The earnestness consists precisely in this, that the observer must explain it to himself.
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At one time my only wish was to be a police official. It seemed to me to be an occupation for my sleepless intriguing mind. I had the idea that there, among criminals, were people to fight: clever, vigorous, crafty fellows. Later I realized that it was good that I did not become one, for most police cases involve misery and wretchedness-not crimes and scandals.
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Doubt is thought's despair; despair is personality's doubt. . . . Doubt and despair . . . belong to completely different spheres; different sides of the soul are set in motion. . . . Despair is an expression of the total personality, doubt only of thought.
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It is perfectly true, as philosophers say, that life must be understood backwards. But they forget the other proposition, that it must be lived forwards.
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Talent warms-up the given (as they say in cookery) and makes it apparent; genius brings something new. But our time lets talent pass for genius. They want to abolish the genius, deify the genius, and let talent forge ahead.
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With respect to physical existence, one needs little, and to the degree that one needs less, the more perfect one is.
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Men think that it is impossible for a human being to love his enemies, for enemies are hardly able to endure the sight of one another. Well, then, shut your eyes--and your enemy looks just like your neighbor.
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You should therefore say: alone in one's boat, alone with one's care, alone with one's despair, which one is craven enough to want rather to keep than submit to the pain of being healed.
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In my great melancholy, I loved life, for I love my melancholy.
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The minority is always stronger than the majority, because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion.
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Language has time as its element; all other media have space as their element.
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It is intelligent to ask two questions: (1) Is it possible? (2) Can I do it?. But it is unintelligent to ask these questions: (1) Is it real? (2) Has my neighbor done it?
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It's better to get lost in the passion than to lose the passion.
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Once you are born in this world you’re old enough to die.
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That is the road we all have to take - over the Bridge of Sight into eternity.
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Why I so much prefer autumn to spring is that in the autumn one looks at heaven--in the spring at the earth.
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Men who not religious or artists are fools.
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Adversity not only draws people together, but brings forth that beautiful inward friendship.
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Love does not alter the beloved, it alters itself.
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Life has its own hidden forces which you can only discover by living.
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The truth must essentially be regarded as in conflict with this world; the world has never been so good, and will never become so good that the majority will desire the truth.
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Man is spirit. But what is spirit? Spirit is the self. But what is the self? The self is a relation which relates itself to itself.
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...the greatest thing each person can do is to give himself to God utterly and unconditionally - weaknesses, fears, and all. For God loves obedience more than good intentions or second-best offerings, which are all too often made under the guise of weakness.