In the sphere of thought, absurdity and perversity remain the masters of the world, and their dominion is suspended only for brief periods.

The majority of men... are not capable of thinking, but only of believing, and... are not accessible to reason, but only to authority.

There is more to be learnt from every page of David Hume than from the collected philosophical works of Hegel, Herbart, and Schleiermacher are taken together.

... that when you're buying books, you're optimistically thinking you're buying the time to read them. (Paraphrase of Schopenhauer)

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.

Happiness consists in frequent repetition of pleasure

Rudeness is better than any argument; it totally eclipses intellect.