It is not the path which is the difficulty; rather, it is the difficulty which is the path. Soren Kierkegaard More Quotes by Soren Kierkegaard More Quotes From Soren Kierkegaard The task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted. Soren Kierkegaard nobletasksinspire To pace about, looking to obtain status, looking to attain 'importance' - I can think of nothing more ridiculous. Soren Kierkegaard ridiculouspacethinking Don't forget to love yourself. Soren Kierkegaard compassionpositivelove When all combine in every way to make everything easier, people will want difficulty. I conceived it as my task to make difficulties everywhere. Soren Kierkegaard taskswantpeople The truth is a snare: you cannot have it, without being caught. You cannot have the truth in such a way that you catch it, but only in such a way that it catches you. Soren Kierkegaard karmafriendshipway It belongs to the imperfection of everything human that man can only attain his desire by passing through its opposite. Soren Kierkegaard imperfectionoppositesmen Affliction is able to drown out every earthly voice. . . but the voice of eternity within a person it cannot drown. Soren Kierkegaard afflictionadversityvoice The more one suffers, the more, I believe, has one a sense for the comic. It is only by the deepest suffering that one acquires true authority in the use of the comic, an authority which by one word transforms as by magic the reasonable creature one calls man into a caricature. Soren Kierkegaard sufferingmenbelieve Thus our own age is essentially one of understanding, and on the average, perhaps, more knowledgeable than any former generation, but it is without passion. Every one knows a great deal, we all know which way we ought to go and all the different ways we can go, but nobody is willing to move. Soren Kierkegaard passionaveragemoving The thinker without a paradox is like a lover without a feeling: a paltry mediocrity. Soren Kierkegaard mediocrityloversfeelings To Dare is to risk losing your foothold for a moment, Not to Dare is to risk losing yourself. Soren Kierkegaard riskmomentslosing Faith is holding onto uncertainties with passionate conviction. Soren Kierkegaard passionatereligiousfaith Irony is the birth-pangs of the objective mind (based upon the misrelationship, discovered by the I , between existence and the idea of existence). Humor is the birth -pangs of the absolute mind (based upon the misrelationship, discovered by the I , between the I and the idea of the I . Soren Kierkegaard ironymindideas For he who loves God without faith reflects on himself, while the person who loves God in faith reflects on God. Soren Kierkegaard god-lovepersons I have only one friend, and that is echo. Why is it my friend? Because I love my sorrow, and echo does not take it away from me. I have only one confidant, and that is the silence of night. Why is it my confidant? Because it remains silent. Soren Kierkegaard echoessilencenight A man may perform astonishing feats and comprehend a vast amount of knowledge, and yet have no understanding of himself. But suffering directs a man to look within. If it succeeds, then there, within him, is the beginning of his learning. Soren Kierkegaard understandingsufferingmen With respect to love we speak continually about perfection and the perfect person. With respect to love Christianity also speaks continually about perfection and the perfect person. Alas, but we men talk about finding the perfect person in order to love him. Christianity speaks about being the perfect person who limitlessly loves the person he sees. Soren Kierkegaard perfectmenorder It is tragic-comic to see that all this knowledge and understanding exercises no power at all over men's lives, that their lives do not express in the remotest way what they have understood, but rather the opposite. Soren Kierkegaard exercisementhinking You train yourself in the art of being mysterious to everyone. My dear friend! What if there were no one, who cared about guessing your riddle, what pleasure would you then take in it? Soren Kierkegaard guessingwhat-ifart The present generation, wearied by its chimerical efforts, relapses into complete indolence. Its condition is that of a man who has only fallen asleep towards morning: first of all come great dreams, then a feeling of laziness, and finally a witty or clever excuse for remaining in bed. Soren Kierkegaard dreamwittymorning
