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Arthur Schopenhauer

Arthur Schopenhauer Quotes

Philosopher

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Famous Arthur Schopenhauer Quotes

“A man never is happy, but spends his whole life in striving after something which he thinks will make him so; he seldom attains his goal, and when he does, it is only to be disappointed; he is mostly shipwrecked in the end, and comes into harbor with mast and rigging gone. And then, it is all one whether he has been happy or miserable; for his life was never anything more than a present moment always vanishing; and now it is over.”

ThinkingMenDoeHas BeensEndsWholeMomentsGoalGoneStriveWhole LifeMiserablePresent MomentDisappointedHarborsVanishingMasts
Book:Suffering, Suicide and Immortality: Eight Essays from The Parerga
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“If the lives of men were relieved of all need, hardship and adversity; if everything they took in hand were successful, they would be so swollen with arrogance that, though they might not burst, they would present the spectacle of unbridled folly-nay, they would go mad. And I may say, further, that a certain amount of care or pain or trouble is necessary for every man at all times. A ship without ballast is unstable and will not go straight.”

IfsMenNeedsMayHandsMightWould BeCarePainCertainSuccessfulTroubleAmountAdversityMadEvery ManShipsAll TimeArroganceFollyHardshipUnstableRelievedSwollenBallast
Book:Studies in Pessimism
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“He who lives to see two or three generations is like a man who sits some time in the conjurer's booth at a fair, and witnesses the performance twice or thrice in succession. The tricks were meant to be seen only once; and when they are no longer a novelty and cease to deceive, their effect is gone.”

MenTwoThreeGoneGenerationsEffectsFairsPerformancesTricksCeaseWitnessMeant To BeDeceivingNoveltySuccessionWere Meant To BeThriceThree Generations
Book:Studies in Pessimism
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“In order to increase his pleasures, man has intentionally added to the number and pressure of his needs, which in their original state were not much more difficult to satisfy than those of the brute. Hence luxury in all its forms; delicate food, the use of tobacco and opium, spirituous liquors, fine clothes, and the thousand and one things that he considers necessary to his existence.”

MenNeedsStatesUseFormOrderDifficultPleasureNumbersExistenceOne ThingFineThousandClothesIncreasePressureOriginalsLuxuryDelicateBrutesTobaccoLiquorOpium
Book:The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer - Studies in Pessimism (illustrated)
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“The real meaning of persona is a mask, such as actors were accustomed to wear on the ancient stage; and it is quite true that no one shows himself as he is, but wears his mask and plays his part. Indeed, the whole of our social arrangements may be likened to a perpetual comedy; and this is why a man who is worth anything finds society so insipid, while a blockhead is quite at home in it.”

MenMayRealPlayWholeShowsHomeActorsSocialComedyStageAncientMaskPerpetualArrangementsAccustomedPersonaInsipidBlockheads
Book:Studies in Pessimism: Top of Schopenhauer
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“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.”

IfsMenMayMatterFallJudgmentConcernDoctorsIllIntellectCuresExcellentColleagues
Book:Suffering, Suicide and Immortality: Eight Essays from The Parerga
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“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.”

MenLongPlayStrongImaginationRoomsBrainDarknessInfluenceObjectsParticularPeriodsActivitySolitudeQuietSickFunctionPrisonExcitedActiveExcitementProportionTwilight
Book:Collected Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer
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“A man's knowledge may be said to be mature, in other words, when it has reached the most complete state of perfection to which he, as an individual, is capable of bringing it, when an exact correspondence is established between the whole of his abstract ideas and the things he has actually perceived for himself. His will mean that each of his abstract ideas rests, directly or indirectly, upon a basis of observation, which alone endows it with any real value; and also that he is able to place every observation he makes under the right abstract idea which belongs to it.”

MenMayMeanSaidIdeasRealStatesWholeAbleValuesIndividualCapablePerfectionBasesObservationAbstractMatureCorrespondenceReal Value
Book:Collected Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer
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“For what is modesty but hypocritical humility, by means of which, in a world swelling with vile envy, a man seeks to beg pardon for his excellences and merits from those who have none? For whoever attributes no merit to himself because he really has none is not modest, but merely honest.”

MenWorldMeanHonestHumilityExcellenceEnvyMeritAttributesModestyModestPardonHypocriticalSwelling
Book:The World as Will and Representation
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“Descartes is rightly regarded as the father of modern philosophy primarily and generally because he helped the faculty of reason to stand on its own feet by teaching men to use their brains in place whereof the Bible, on the one hand, and Aristotle, on the other, had previously served.”

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Book:Parerga and Paralipomena: Short Philosophical Essays
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“The charlatan takes very different shapes according to circumstances; but at bottom he is a man who cares nothing about knowledge for its own sake, and only strives to gain the semblance of it that he may use it for his own personal ends, which are always selfish and material.”

MenMayDifferentEndsUseCareMaterialsCircumstancesShapesGainsStriveBottomSakeSelfishStrifeWho CaresSemblanceCharlatans
Book:The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer - Studies in Pessimism (illustrated)
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“Nothing in life gives a man so much courage as the attainment or renewal of the conviction that other people regard him with favor; because it means that everyone joins to give him help and protection, which is an infinitely stronger bulwark against the ills of life than anything he can do himself.”

PeopleMenGivingMeanHelpingCan DoBraveryStrongerRegardConvictionProtectionFavorsRenewalAttainment
Book:the Wisdom of Life: Top of Schopenhauer
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