To attain something desired is to discover how vain it is; and…though we live all our lives in expectation of better things, we often at the same time long regretfully for what is past. The present, on the other hand, is regarded as something quite temporary and serving only as the road to our goal. That is why most men discover when they look back on their life that they have the whole time been living ad interim, and are surprised to see that which they let go by so unregarded and unenjoyed was precisely their life, was precisely in expectation of which they lived.
Arthur SchopenhauerIt is, indeed, only in old age that intellectual men attain their sublime expression, whilst portraits of them in their youth show only the first traces of it.
Arthur SchopenhauerVirtue is as little to be acquired by learning as genius; nay, the idea is barren, and is only to be employed as an instrument, in the same way as genius in respect to art. It would be as foolish to expect that our moral and ethical systems would turn out virtuous, noble, and holy beings, as that our aesthetic systems would produce poets, painters, and musicians.
Arthur SchopenhauerThus also every keen pleasure is an error and an illusion, for no attained wish can give lasting satisfaction.
Arthur SchopenhauerAll truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
Arthur SchopenhauerA good supply of resignation is of the first importance in providing for the journey of life.
Arthur SchopenhauerCompassion for animals is intimately associated with goodness of character, and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man.
Arthur SchopenhauerTruth that is naked is the most beautiful, and the simpler its expression the deeper is the impression it makes; this is partly because it gets unobstructed hold of the hearer’s mind without his being distracted by secondary thoughts, and partly because he feels that here he is not being corrupted or deceived by the arts of rhetoric, but that the whole effect is got from the thing itself.
Arthur SchopenhauerHe who can see truly in the midst of general infatuation is like a man whose watch keeps good time, when all clocks in the town in which he lives are wrong. He alone knows the right time; what use is that to him?
Arthur SchopenhauerThe little honesty that exists among authors is discernible in the unconscionable way they misquote from the writings of others.
Arthur SchopenhauerEvery genius is a great child; he gazes out at the world as something strange, a spectacle, and therefore with purely objective interest
Arthur SchopenhauerNo one knows what capacities for doing and suffering he has in himself, until something comes to rouse them to activity: just as in a pond of still water, lying there like a mirror, there is no sign of the roar and thunder with which it can leap from the precipice, and yet remain what it is; or again, rise high in the air as a fountain. When water is as cold as ice, you can have no idea of the latent warmth contained in it.
Arthur SchopenhauerStill, instead of trusting what their own minds tell them, men have as a rule a weakness for trusting others who pretend to supernatural sources of knowledge.
Arthur SchopenhauerWhat people commonly call Fate is, as a general rule, nothing but their own stupid and foolish conduct.
Arthur SchopenhauerEvery possession and every happiness is but lent by chance for an uncertain time, and may therefore be demanded back the next hour.
Arthur SchopenhauerTo form a judgment intuitively is the privilege of few; authority and example lead the rest of the world. They see with the eyes of others, they hear with the ears of others. Therefore it is very easy to think as all the world now think; but to think as all the world will think thirty years hence is not in the power of every one.
Arthur SchopenhauerThere is no more mistaken path to happiness than worldliness, revelry, high life.
Arthur SchopenhauerIt is difficult, if not impossible, to define the limit of our reasonable desires in respect of possessions.
Arthur SchopenhauerAs the biggest library if it is in disorder is not as useful as a small but well-arranged one, so you may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value to you than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself; because only through ordering what you know by comparing every truth with every other truth can you take complete possession of your knowledge and get it into your power. You can think about only what you know, so you ought to learn something; on the other hand, you can know only what you have thought about.
Arthur SchopenhauerReading is equivalent to thinking with someone else's head instead of with one's own.
Arthur SchopenhauerNo doubt, when modesty was made a virtue, it was a very advantageous thing for the fools, for everybody is expected to speak of himself as if he were one.
Arthur SchopenhauerI have long held the opinion that the amount of noise that anyone can bear undisturbed stands in inverse proportion to his mental capacity and therefore be regarded as a pretty fair measure of it.
Arthur SchopenhauerImagination 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 SchopenhauerStyle is the physiognomy of the mind. It is more infallible than that of the body. To imitate the style of another is said to be wearing a mask. However beautiful it may be, it is through its lifelessness insipid and intolerable, so that even the most ugly living face is more engaging.
Arthur SchopenhauerI owe what is best in my own development to the impression made by Kant's works, the sacred writings of the Hindus, and Plato.
Arthur SchopenhauerTrue brevity of expression consists in a man only saying what is worth saying, while avoiding all diffuse explanations of things which every one can think out for himself.
Arthur SchopenhauerThe intellectual attainments of a man who thinks for himself resemble a fine painting, where the light and shade are correct, the tone sustained, the colour perfectly harmonised; it is true to life. On the other hand, the intellectual attainments of the mere man of learning are like a large palette, full of all sorts of colours, which at most are systematically arranged, but devoid of harmony, connection and meaning.
Arthur SchopenhauerNecessity is the constant scourge of the lower classes, ennui of the higher ones.
Arthur SchopenhauerMoney alone is absolutely good, because it is not only a concrete satisfaction of one need in particular; it is an abstract satisfaction of all.
Arthur SchopenhauerEvery human perfection is allied to a defect into which it threatens to pass, but it is also true that every defect is allied to a perfection.
Arthur SchopenhauerNo greater mistake can be made than to imagine that what has been written latest is always the more correct; that what is written later on is an improvement on what was written previously; and that every change means progress.
Arthur SchopenhauerIf 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.
Arthur Schopenhauer