The greatest achievements of the human mind are generally received with distrust.
Arthur SchopenhauerFor whence did Dante take the materials for his hell but from this our actual world? And yet he made a very proper hell of it.
Arthur SchopenhauerThe 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 SchopenhauerIf God made the world, I would not be that God, for the misery of the world would break my heart.
Arthur SchopenhauerDo not shorten the morning by getting up late, or waste it in unworthy occupations or in talk; look upon it as the quintessence of life, as to a certain extent sacred. Evening is like old age: we are languid, talkative, silly. Each day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth, every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and sleep a little death.
Arthur Schopenhauer