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It is a clumsy experiment to make; for it involves the destruction of the very consciousness which puts the question and awaits the answer.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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Man is the only animal who causes pain to others with no other object than wanting to do so.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
Any book, which is at all important, should be reread immediately.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
Man may have the most excellent judgment in all other matters, and yet go wrong in those which concern himself; because here the will comes in and deranges the intellect at once. Therefore let a man take counsel of a friend. A doctor can cure everyone but himself; if he falls ill, he sends for a colleague.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
And yet, just as our body would burst asunder if the pressure of the atmosphere were removed from it, so would the arrogance of men expand, if not to the point of bursting then to that of the most unbridled folly, indeed madness, if the pressure of want, toil, calamity and frustration were removed from their life. One can even say that we require at all times a certain quantity of care or sorrow or want, as a ship requires ballast, in order to keep on a straight course.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
The first rule for a good style is to have something to say; in fact, this in itself is almost enough.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
Imagination is strong in a man when that particular function of the brain which enables him to observe is roused to activity without any necessary excitement of the sense. Accordingly, we find that imagination is active just in proportion as our sense are not excited by external objects. A long period of solitude, whether in prison or in a sick room; quiet, twilight, darkness-these are the things that promote its activity; and under their influence it comes into play of itself.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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Happiness consists in frequent repetition of pleasure.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
The weakness of their reasoning faculty also explains why women show more sympathy for the unfortunate than men;... and why, on the contrary, they are inferior to men as regards justice, and less honourable and conscientious.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
Many undoubtedly owe their good fortune to the circumstance that they possess a pleasing smile with which they win hearts. Yet these hearts would do better to beware and to learn from Hamlet's tables that one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
Reason deserves to be called a prophet; for in showing us the consequence and effect of our actions in the present, does it not tell us what the future will be?
Arthur Schopenhauer -
All our wanting comes from needs, thus we continiously suffer. The intellect teaches free will, free from suffering.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
It is in the treatment of trifles that a person shows what they are.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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We seldom think of what we have but always of what we lack. Therefore, rather than grateful, we are bitter.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
Always to see the general in the particular is the very foundation of genius.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
Honor has not to be won; it must only not be lost.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
Everything that happens, happens of necessity.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
To overcome difficulties is to experience the full delight of existence.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
Whatever folly men commit, be their shortcomings or their vices what they may, let us exercise forbearance; remember that when these faults appear in others it is our follies and vices that we behold.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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I am often surprised by the cleverness, and now and again by the stupidity, of my dog; and I have similar experiences with mankind.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
To forgive and forget means to throw away dearly bought experience.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
The poet presents the imagination with images from life and human characters and situations, sets them all in motion and leaves itto the beholder to let these images take his thoughts as far as his mental powers will permit. This is why he is able to engage men of the most differing capabilities, indeed fools and sages together. The philosopher, on the other hand, presents not life itself but the finished thoughts which he has abstracted from it and then demands that the reader should think precisely as, and precisely as far as, he himself thinks. That is why his public is so small.
Arthur Schopenhauer -
A sense of humour is the only divine quality of man.
Arthur Schopenhauer