To find out your real opinion of someone, judge the impression you have when you first see a letter from them. Arthur Schopenhauer More Quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer More Quotes From Arthur Schopenhauer No rose without a thorn but many a thorn without a rose. Arthur Schopenhauer rose The greatest intellectual capacities are only found in connection with a vehement and passionate will. Arthur Schopenhauer connections passionate intellectual The first forty years of our life give the text, the next thirty furnish the commentary upon it, which enables us rightly to understand the true meaning and connection of the text with its moral and its beauties. Arthur Schopenhauer birthday giving years Dissimulation is innate in woman, and almost as much a quality of the stupid as of the clever. Arthur Schopenhauer quality stupid clever That which knows all things and is known by none is the subject. Arthur Schopenhauer subjects all-things knows Restlessness is the hallmark of existence. Arthur Schopenhauer hallmark restlessness existence For the purpose of acquiring gain, everything else is pushed aside or thrown overboard, for example, as is philosophy by the professors of philosophy. Arthur Schopenhauer purpose example philosophy 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 Schopenhauer letting-go men past What a man is contributes much more to his happiness than what he has or how he is regarded by others. Arthur Schopenhauer positive happiness men What a man is: that is to say, personality, in the widest sense of the word; under which are included health, strength, beauty, temperament, moral character, intelligence, and education. Arthur Schopenhauer personality character men We must set limits to our wishes, curb our desires, moderate our anger, always remembering that an individual can attain only an infinitesimal share in anything that is worth having; and that on the other hand, everyone must incur many of the ills of life Arthur Schopenhauer wish desire hands Freedom of the press is to the machinery of the state what the safety valve is to the steam engine. Arthur Schopenhauer steam-engines safety evil Sexual passion is the cause of war and the end of peace, the basis of what is serious... and consequently the concentration of all desire Arthur Schopenhauer passion desire war For an act to be moral the intention must be based on compassion, not duty. We do something because we want to do it, because we feel we have to do it, not because we ought to do it. And even if our efforts fail - or we never even get to implement them - we are still moral because our motivation was based on compassion. Arthur Schopenhauer effort motivation compassion Life is neither to be wept over nor to be laughed at but to be understood. Arthur Schopenhauer true-life understood life-is Nothing shocks our moral feelings so deeply as cruelty does. We can forgive every other crime, but not cruelty. The reason for this is that it is the very opposite of compassion. Arthur Schopenhauer compassion opposites feelings For what is modesty but hypocritical humility, by means of which, in a world swelling with vile envy, a man seeks to beg pardon for his excellences and merits from those who have none? For Arthur Schopenhauer humility men mean Whatever folly men commit, be their shortcomings or their vices what they may, let us exercise forbearance; remember that when these faults appear in others it is our follies and vices that we behold. Arthur Schopenhauer vices exercise men There is no doubt that life is given us, not to be enjoyed, but to be overcome; to be got over. Arthur Schopenhauer philosophical adversity doubt Consciousness makes the individual careful to maintain his own existence; and if this were not so, there would be no surety for the preservation of the species. From all this it is clear that individuality is not a form of perfection, but rather a limitation; and so to be freed from it is not loss but gain. Arthur Schopenhauer individuality perfection loss
