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A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants.

Arthur Schopenhauer

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Arthur Schopenhauer
Age: 72 †
Born: 1788
Born: February 22
Died: 1860
Died: September 21
Musicologist
Philosopher
Translator
University Teacher
Writer
Danzig
Sad
Conflict
Wants
Men

More quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer

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Honor means that a man is not exceptional fame, that he is. Fame is something which must be won honor, only something which must not be lost.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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The fourfold root of the principle of sufficent reason is Anything perceived has a cause. All conclusions have premises. All effects have causes. All actions have motives.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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It is only in the microscope that our life looks so big. It is an indivisible point, drawn out and magnified by the powerful lenses of Time and Space.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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A high degree of intellect tends to make a man unsocial.
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A man of business will often deceive you without the slightest scruple, but he will absolutely refuse to commit a theft.
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There is not a grain of dust, not an atom that can become nothing, yet man believes that death is the annhilation of his being.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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Do not shorten the morning by getting up late look upon it as the quintessence of life, as to a certain extent sacred.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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...a genuine work of art, can never be false, nor can it be discredited through the lapse of time, for it does not present an opinion but the thing itself.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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A man of genius can hardly be sociable, for what dialogues could indeed be so intelligent and entertaining as his own monologues?
Arthur Schopenhauer
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If God made this world, then i would not want to be the God. It is full of misery and distress that it breaks my heart.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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Will minus intellect constitutes vulgarity.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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How entirely does the Upanishad breathe throughout the holy spirit of the Vedas! How is every one who by a diligent study of its Persian Latin has become familiar with that incomparable book stirred by that spirit to the very depth of his Soul !
Arthur Schopenhauer
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The doctor sees all the weakness of mankind the lawyer all the wickedness, the theologian all the stupidity.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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Animals learn death first at the moment of death...man approaches death with the knowledge it is closer every hour, and this creates a feeling of uncertainty over his life, even for him who forgets in the business of life that annihilation is awaiting him. It is for this reason chiefly that we have philosophy and religion.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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It is not what things are objectively and in themselves, but what they are for us, in our way of looking at them, that makes us happy or the reverse.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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Wir tappen im Labyrinth unsers Lebenswandels und im Dunkel unserer Forschungen umher: helleAugenblicke erleuchten dabei wie Blitze unsernWeg. We grope about in the labyrinth of our life and in the obscurity of our investigations bright moments illuminate our path like flashes of lightning.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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Ist es an und fu? r sich absurd, das Nichtsein fu? r einUbel zu ? halten da jedes Ubel wie jedes Gut das Dasein zur Voraussetzung hat, ja sogar das Bewusstsein. It is in and by itself absurd to regard non-existence as an evil for every evil, like every good, presupposes existence, indeed even consciousness.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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Authors may be divided into falling stars, planets, and fixed stars: the first have a momentary effect the second have a much longer duration but the third are unchangeable, possess their own light, and work for all time.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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A man of talent will strive for money and reputation but the spring that moves genius to the production of its works is not as easy to name
Arthur Schopenhauer
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Life is neither to be wept over nor to be laughed at but to be understood.
Arthur Schopenhauer