Quote

It would be better if there were nothing. Since there is more pain than pleasure on earth, every satisfaction is only transitory, creating new desires and new distresses, and the agony of the devoured animal is always far greater than the pleasure of the devourer

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
Always
Pleasure
Transitory
Would
Greater
Agony
Pain
Distress
Desire
Desires
Earth
Satisfaction
Better
Creating
Devourer
Nothing
Animal
Distresses
Every
Since
Devoured

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We should be surprised that a matter that generally plays such an important part in the life of man has hitherto been almost entirely disregarded by philosophers, and lies before us as raw and untreated material.
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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.
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That a god like Jehovah should have created this world of misery and woe, out of pure caprice, and because he enjoyed doing it, and should then have clapped his hands in praise of his own work, and declared everything to be very good-that will not do at all!
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We see in tragedy the noblest men, after a long conflict and suffering, finally renounce forever all the pleasure of life and the aims till then pursued so keenly, or cheerfully and willingly give up life itself.
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What makes people hard-hearted is this, that each man has, or fancies he has, as much as he can bear in his own troubles.
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As the biggest library if it is in disorder is not as useful as a small but well-arranged one, so you may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself.
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There is only one healing force, and that is nature in pills and ointments there is none. At most they can give the healing force of nature a hint about where there is something for it to do.
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Mensch kann tun was er will er kann aber nicht wollen was er will. (One can choose what to do, but not what to want.)
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There are, first of all, two kinds of authors: those who write for the subject's sake, and those who write for writing's sake. The first kind have had thoughts or experiences which seem to them worth communicating, while the second kind need money and consequently write for money.
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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.
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A reproach can only hurt if it hits the mark. Whoever knows that he does not deserve a reproach can treat it with contempt.
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Honor has not to be won it must only not be lost.
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The problem with Germans is that they look in the clouds for what lies at their feet.
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Every parting gives a foretaste of death every remeeting a foretaste of the resurrection. That is why even people who are indifferent to each other rejoice so much if they meet again after twenty or thirty years of separation.
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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.
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A writer should never be brief at the expense of being clear.
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It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.
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We seldom speak of what we have but often of what we lack.
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The charlatan takes very different shapes according to circumstances but at bottom he is a man who cares nothing about knowledge for its own sake, and only strives to gain the semblance of it that he may use it for his own personal ends, which are always selfish and material.
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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