Otto Weininger Professions : Philosopher Born : April 3, 1880 Died : October 4, 1903 Browse All Authors Top 47 quotes by Otto Weininger The great man of science, unless he is also a philosopher, ... deserves the title of genius as little as the man of action. Otto Weininger titles genius men Everything evil is revenge. Otto Weininger revenge evil The great genius does not let his work be determined by the concrete finite conditions that surround him, whilst it is from these that the work of the statesman takes its direction and its termination. ... It is the genius in reality and not the other who is the creator of history, for it is only the genius who is outside and unconditioned by history. Otto Weininger genius doe reality Talent is hereditary; it may be the common possession of a whole family (eg, the Bach family); genius is not transmitted; it is never diffused, but is strictly individual. Otto Weininger genius common may Fate determines many things, no matter how we struggle. Otto Weininger fate struggle matter Genius declares itself to be a kind of higher masculinity. Otto Weininger masculinity genius kind It is certainly true that most men need some kind of a God. A few, and they are the men of genius, do not bow to an alien law. The rest try to justify their doings and misdoings, their thinking and existence (at least the menial side of it), to some one else, whether it be the personal God of the Jews, or a beloved, respected, and revered human being. It is only in this way that they can bring their lives under the social law. . . . Otto Weininger law men thinking There is, moreover, very little sense in preventing young people from giving expression to their ideas on the pretext that they have less experience than have older persons. There are many who may live a thousand years without encountering experience of any value. It could only be in a society of persons equally gifted that such an idea could have any meaning. Otto Weininger expression years ideas A man is himself important precisely in proportion that all things seem important to him. Otto Weininger proportion important men With ordinary men the moments which are united in a close continuity out of the original discrete multiplicity are very few, and the course of their lives resembles a little brook, whereas with the genius it is more like a mighty river into which all the little rivulets flow from afar; that is to say, the universal comprehension of genius vibrates to no experience in which all the individual moments have not been gathered up and stored. Otto Weininger ordinary rivers men A man is first reverent about himself, and self-respect is the first stage in reverence for all things. Otto Weininger self men firsts There are probably very few people who have not at some time of their lives had some quality of genius. If they have not had such, it is probable that they have also been without great sorrow or great pain. They would have needed only to live sufficiently intently for a time for some quality to reveal itself. The poems of first love are a case in point, and certainly such love is a sufficient stimulus. Otto Weininger first-love pain love-is The genius which runs to madness is no longer genius. Otto Weininger madness genius running A nation orients itself by its own geniuses, and derives from them its ideas of its own ideals, but the guiding star serves also as a light to other nations. As speech has been created by a few great men, the most extraordinary wisdom lies concealed in it, a wisdom which reveals itself to a few ardent explorers but which is usually overlooked by the stupid professional philologists. Otto Weininger stars stupid lying As the mental endowment of a man varies with the organisation of his accumulated experiences, the better endowed he is, the more readily will he be able to remember his whole past, everything that he has ever thought or heard, seen or done, perceived or felt, the more completely in fact will he be able to reproduce his whole life. Universal remembrance of all its experiences, therefore, is the surest, most general, and most easily proved mark of a genius. Otto Weininger remembrance men past There are transitional forms between the metals and non-metals; between chemical combinations and simple mixtures, between animals and plants, between phanerogams and cryptogams, and between mammals and birds [...]. The improbability may henceforth be taken for granted of finding in Nature a sharp cleavage between all that is masculine on the one side and all that is feminine on the other; or that any living being is so simple in this respect that it can be put wholly on one side, or wholly on the other, of the line. Otto Weininger taken simple animal Among the notable things about fire is that it also requires oxygen to burn - exactly like its enemy, life. Thereby are life and flames so often compared. Otto Weininger oxygen flames fire Logic and ethics are fundamentally the same, they are no more than duty to oneself Otto Weininger ethics logic duty In order to depict a man one must understand him, and to understand him one must be like him; in order to portray his psychological activities one must be able to reproduce them in oneself. To understand a man one must have his nature in oneself. Otto Weininger able men order The number of different aspects that the face of a man has assumed may be taken almost as a physiognomical measure of his ... genius. Otto Weininger taken numbers men Similar Authors F. H. Bradley philosopher Irving Copi philosopher Ivan Ilyin philosopher Ivan Illich philosopher Bion of Borysthenes philosopher Bonaventure philosopher All Authors