Arthur Schopenhauer Quotes
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Unrest is the mark of existence.
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Writers may be classified as meteors, planets, and fixed stars.
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Education perverts the mind since we are directly opposing the natural development of our mind by obtaining ideas first and observations last. This is why so few men of learning have such sound common sense as is quite common among the illiterate.
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The vanity of existence is revealed in the whole form existence assumes: in the infiniteness of time and space contrasted with the finiteness of the individual in both; in the fleeting present as the sole form in which actuality exists; in the contingency and relativity of all things; in continual becoming without being; in continual desire without satisfaction; in the continual frustration of striving of which life consists. . . Time is that by virtue of which everything becomes nothingness in our hands and loses all real value.
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Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things.
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In general admittedly the Wise of all times have always said the same thing, and the fools, that is to say the vast majority of all times, have always done the same thing, i.e. the opposite; and so it will remain in the future.
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The reason domestic pets are so lovable and so helpful to us is because they enjoy, quietly and placidly, the present moment.
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Authors may be divided into falling stars, planets, and fixed stars: the first have a momentary effect; the second have a much longer duration; but the third are unchangeable, possess their own light, and work for all time.
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Zuvörderst nämlich wird eine Regierung nicht Leute besolden, um Dem, was sie durch tausend von ihr angestellte Priester, oder Religionslehrer, von allen Kanzeln verkünden läßt, direkt, oder auch nur indirekt, zu widersprechen. … Daher der Grundsatz improbant secus docentes.
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Boredom is an evil that is not to be estimated lightly. It can come in the end to real despair. The public authority takes precautions against it everywhere, as against other universal calamities.
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Memory works like the collection glass in the Camera obscura: it gathers everything together and therewith produces a far more beautiful picture than was present originally.
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The old woman dies, the burden is lifted.
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Every parting gives a foretaste of death; every coming together again a foretaste of the resurrection.
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Each day is a little life.
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It is only in the microscope that our life looks so big.
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The greatest intellectual capacities are only found in connection with a vehement and passionate will.
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If at any moment Time stays his hand, it is only when we are delivered over to the miseries of boredom.
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Means at our disposal should be regarded as a bulwark against the many evils and misfortunes that can occur. We should not regard such wealth as a permission or even an obligation to procure for ourselves the pleasures of the world.
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We can regard our life as a uselessly disturbing episode in the blissful repose of nothingness.
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Suffering by nature or chance never seems so painful as suffering inflicted on us by the arbitrary will of another.
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Men need some kind of external activity, because they are inactive within.
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With people of limited ability modesty is merely honesty. But with those who possess great talent it is hypocrisy.
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A man can surely do what he wills to do, but cannot determine what he wills.
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Reading is merely a surrogate for thinking for yourself; it means letting someone else direct your thoughts.