Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude. Arthur Schopenhauer More Quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer More Quotes From Arthur Schopenhauer Whoever heard me assert that the grey cat playing just now in the yard is the same one that did jumps and tricks there five hundred years ago will think whatever he likes of me, but it is a stranger form of madness to imagine that the present-day cat is fundamentally an entirely different one. Arthur Schopenhauer cat years thinking Our religions will never at any time take root; the ancient wisdom of the human race will not be supplanted by the events in Galilee. On the contrary, Indian wisdom flows back to Europe, and will produce a fundamental change in our knowledge and thought. Arthur Schopenhauer race roots europe A man's knowledge may be said to be mature, in other words, when it has reached the most complete state of perfection to which he, as an individual, is capable of bringing it, when an exact correspondence is established between the whole of his abstract ideas and the things he has actually perceived for himself. His will mean that each of his abstract ideas rests, directly or indirectly, upon a basis of observation, which alone endows it with any real value; and also that he is able to place every observation he makes under the right abstract idea which belongs to it. Arthur Schopenhauer real men mean A man becomes a philosopher by reason of a certain perplexity, from which he seeks to free himself. Arthur Schopenhauer philosopher men philosophy To become reconciled to a friend with whom you have broken, is a form of weakness; and you pay the penalty of it when he takes the first opportunity of doing precisely the very thing which brought about the breach. Arthur Schopenhauer weakness broken opportunity [T]he moralists of Europe [have] pretended that beasts have no rights... a doctrine revolting/gross/barbarous... on which a native of the Asiatic uplands could not look without righteous horror. Arthur Schopenhauer rights animal europe You are free to do what you want, but you are not free to want what you want. Arthur Schopenhauer free-will what-you-want want Just as a stream flows smoothly on as long as it encounters no obstruction, so the nature of man and animal is such that we never really notice or become conscious of what is agreeable to our will; if we are to notice something, our will has to have been thwarted, has to have experienced a shock of some kind. Arthur Schopenhauer sad animal men To expect a man to retain everything that he has ever read is like expecting him to carry about in his body everything that he has ever eaten. Arthur Schopenhauer expecting body men The composer reveals the innermost nature of the world, and expresses the profoundest wisdom in a language that his reasoning faculty does not understand, just as a magnetic somnambulist gives information about things of which she has no conception when she is awake. Therefore in the composer, more than in any other artist, the man is entirely separate and distinct from the artist. Arthur Schopenhauer artist giving men There is only one inborn erroneous notion ... that we exist in order to be happy ... So long as we persist in this inborn error ... the world seems to us full of contradictions. For at every step, in great things and small, we are bound to experience that the world and life are certainly not arranged for the purpose of maintaining a happy existence ... hence the countenances of almost all elderly persons wear the expression of ... disappointment. Arthur Schopenhauer elderly errors disappointment The world is my representation Arthur Schopenhauer representation world Life to the great majority is only a constant struggle for mere existence, with the certainty of losing it at last. Arthur Schopenhauer majority lasts struggle Das Ganze der Erfahrung gleicht einer Geheimschrift und die Philosophie der Entzifferung derselben. The whole of experience is like a cryptograph, and philosophy is like the deciphering of it. Arthur Schopenhauer dies whole philosophy The animal lacks both anxiety and hope because its consciousness is restricted to what is clearly evident and thus to the present moment: the animal is the present incarnate. Arthur Schopenhauer anxiety consciousness animal Style 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 Schopenhauer style mind beautiful Great minds are related to the brief span of time during which they live as great buildings are to a little square in which they stand: you cannot see them in all their magnitude because you are standing too close to them. Arthur Schopenhauer squares mind time However, for the man who studies to gain insight, books and studies are merely rungs of the ladder on which he climbs to the summit of knowledge. As soon as a rung has raised him up one step, he leaves it behind. On the other hand, the many who study in order to fill their memory do not use the rungs of the ladder for climbing, but take them off and load themselves with them to take away, rejoicing at the increasing weight of the burden. They remain below forever, because they bear what should have bourne them. Arthur Schopenhauer men memories book It is only the hope of what is claimed that begets and nurishes the wish. Arthur Schopenhauer begets wish Education perverts the mind since we are directly opposing the natural development of our mind by obtaining ideas first and observations last. This is why so few men of learning have such sound common sense as is quite common among the illiterate. Arthur Schopenhauer common-sense men ideas
