Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauerwas a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work The World as Will and Representation, in which he characterizes the phenomenal world as the product of a blind, insatiable, and malignant metaphysical will. Proceeding from the transcendental idealism of Immanuel Kant, Schopenhauer developed an atheistic metaphysical and ethical system that has been described as an exemplary manifestation of philosophical pessimism, rejecting the contemporaneous post-Kantian philosophies of German idealism. Schopenhauer was among the first thinkers in Western...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth22 February 1788
CountryGermany
Arthur Schopenhauer quotes about
The deep pain that is felt at the death of every friendly soul arises from the feeling that there is in every individual something which is inexpressible, peculiar to him alone, and is, therefore, absolutely and irretrievably lost.
There are two things which make it impossible to believe that this world is the successful work of an all-wise, all-good, and at the same time, all-powerful being; firstly, the misery which abounds in it everywhere; and secondly, the obvious imperfection of its highest product, man, who is a burlesque of what he should be.
It is a clear gain to sacrifice pleasure in order to avoid pain.
If life — the craving for which is the very essence of our being — were possessed of any positive intrinsic value, there would be no such thing as boredom at all: mere existence would satisfy us in itself, and we should want for nothing.
The doctor sees all the weakness of mankind; the lawyer all the wickedness, the theologian all the stupidity.
In action a great heart is the chief qualification. In work, a great head.
If you want to know your true opinion of someone, watch the effect produced in you by the first sight of a letter from him.
The alchemists in their search for gold discovered many other things of greater value.
Talent is like a marksman who hits a target which others cannot reach; genius is like a marksman who hits a target which others cannot see.
In the sphere of thought, absurdity and perversity remain the masters of the world, and their dominion is suspended only for brief periods.
First the truth is ridiculed. Then it meets outrage. Then it is said to have been obvious all along.
To find out your real opinion of someone, judge the impression you have when you first see a letter from them.
It is difficult to keep quiet if you have nothing to do
I've never known any trouble than an hour's reading didn't assuage.