Quote

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.)

Arthur Schopenhauer

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Arthur Schopenhauer
Age: 72 †
Born: 1788
Born: February 22
Died: 1860
Died: September 21
Musicologist
Philosopher
Translator
University Teacher
Writer
Danzig
Mensch
Nicht
Choose

More quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer

Image
The heavy armor becomes the light dress of childhood the pain is brief, the joy unending.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
The alchemists in their search for gold discovered many other things of greater value.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
At the age of five years to enter a spinning-cotton or other factory, and from that time forth to sit there daily, first ten, then twelve, and ultimately fourteen hours, performing the same mechanical labour, is to purchase dearly the satisfaction of drawing breath. But this is the fate of millions, and that of millions more is analogous to it.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
Truth is most beautiful undraped.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
In their hearts women think that it is men's business to earn money and theirs to spend it.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
If a man wants to read good books, he must make a point of avoiding bad ones for life is short, and time and energy limited.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
Every truth passes through 3 stages before it is recognized 1)ridicule 2) opposition 3) accepted as self-evident.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
What a person is for himself, what abides with him in his loneliness and isolation, and what no one can give or take away from him, this is obviously more essential for him than everything that he possesses or what he may be in the eyes of others.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
The business of the novelist is not to relate great events, but to make small ones interesting.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
Thus, the task is not so much to see what no one yet has seen, but to think what nobody yet has thought about that which everybody sees.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
For our improvement we need a mirror.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
The scenes and events of long ago, and the persons who took part in them, wear a charming aspect to the eye of memory, which sees only the outlines and takes no note of disagreeable details. The present enjoys no such advantage, and so it always seems defective.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
You can do what you will, but in any given moment of your life you can will only one definite thing and absolutely nothing other than that one thing.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
Many books serve merely to show how many ways there are of being wrong, and how far astray you yourself would go if you followed their guidance. You should read only when your own thoughts dry up.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
No one can transcend their own individuality.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
To become indignant at [people's] conduct is as foolish as to be angry with a stone because it rolls into your path. And with many people the wisest thing you can do, is to resolve to make use of those whom you cannot alter.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
Life is a business that does not cover the costs.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
Were an Asiatic to ask me for a definition of Europe, I should be forced to answer him: It is that part of the world which is haunted by the incredible delusion that man was created out of nothing, and that his present birth is his first entrance into life.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Image
I am often surprised by the cleverness, and now and again by the stupidity, of my dog and I have similar experiences with mankind.
Arthur Schopenhauer