Arthur Schopenhauer Quotes

We forfeit three-quarters of ourselves in order to be like other people.

It is a wise thing to be polite; consequently, it is a stupid thing to be rude. To make enemies by unnecessary and willful incivility, is just as insane a proceeding as to set your house on fire. For politeness is like a counter—an avowedly false coin, with which it is foolish to be stingy.

A sense of humour is the only divine quality of man

Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.

Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude.

Without books the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are the engines of change, windows on the world, "Lighthouses" as the poet said "erected in the sea of time." They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind, Books are humanity in print.

We will gradually become indifferent to what goes on in the minds of other people when we acquire a knowledge of the superficial nature of their thoughts, the narrowness of their views and of the number of their errors. Whoever attaches a lot of value to the opinions of others pays them too much honor.

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

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.

Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point.

To feel envy is human, to savour schadenfreude is devilish

Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal.

Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom.

Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame.

Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them; but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents.

Sleep is the interest we have to pay on the capital which is called in at death; and the higher the rate of interest and the more regularly it is paid, the further the date of redemption is postponed.

After your death you will be what you were before your birth.

If we were not all so interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it.

Politeness is to human nature what warmth is to wax.

The more unintelligent a man is, the less mysterious existence seems to him.

How very paltry and limited the normal human intellect is, and how little lucidity there is in the human consciousness, may be judged from the fact that, despite the ephemeral brevity of human life, the uncertainty of our existence and the countless enigmas which press upon us from all sides, everyone does not continually and ceaselessly philosophize, but that only the rarest of exceptions do.

To find out your real opinion of someone, judge the impression you have when you first see a letter from them.

Ordinary people merely think how they shall 'spend' their time; a man of talent tries to 'use' it.

Money is human happiness in the abstract; he, then, who is no longer capable of enjoying human happiness in the concrete devotes himself utterly to money.

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.

There is no absurdity so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to inculcate it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity.

With people of limited ability modesty is merely honesty. But with those who possess great talent it is hypocrisy.

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

The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom.

I believe that when death closes our eyes we shall awaken to a light, of which our sunlight is but the shadow.

Honor has not to be won; it must only not be lost.

To live alone is the fate of all great souls.

Suffering by nature or chance never seems so painful as suffering inflicted on us by the arbitrary will of another.

Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right.

Just remember, once you're over the hill you begin to pick up speed.

A word too much always defeats its purpose."

The greatest achievements of the human mind are generally received with distrust.

I've never known any trouble than an hour's reading didn't assuage.

It's the niceties that make the difference fate gives us the hand, and we play the cards.

Intellect is invisible to the man who has none.

I am often surprised by the cleverness, and now and again by the stupidity, of my dog; and I have similar experiences with mankind.

To desire immortality is to desire the eternal perpetuation of a great mistake

To free a person from error is to give, and not to take away.

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone.

Any book, which is at all important, should be reread immediately

The memory should be specially taxed in youth, since it is then that it is strongest and most tenacious. But in choosing the things that should be committed to memory the utmost are and forethought must be exercised; as lessons well learnt in youth are never forgotten.

Vengeance taken will often tear the heart and torment the conscience.

It is with trifles, and when he is off guard, that a man best reveals his character.

Do not shorten the morning by getting up late; look upon it as the quintessence of life, as to a certain extent sacred.

Will minus intellect constitutes vulgarity.

To overcome difficulties is to experience the full delight of existence.

The fruits of Christianity were religious wars, butcheries, crusades, inquisitions, extermination of the natives of America, and the introduction of African slaves in their place.

Friends and acquaintances are the surest passport to fortune.

Fame is something that must be won. Honor is something that must not be lost.

Natural abilities can almost compensate for the want of every kind of cultivation, but no cultivation of the mind can make up for the want of natural abilities.

The closing years of life are like the end of a masquerade party, when the masks are dropped.

No one can transcend their own individuality.

Suicide may also be regarded as an experiment - a question which man puts to Nature, trying to force her to answer. The question is this: What change will death produce in a man's existence and in his insight into the nature of things? It is a clumsy experiment to make; for it involves the destruction of the very consciousness which puts the question and awaits the answer.

Obstinacy is the result of the will forcing itself into the place of the intellect.

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.