Quote

He who lives to see two or three generations is like a man who sits some time in the conjurer's booth at a fair, and witnesses the performance twice or thrice in succession. The tricks were meant to be seen only once and when they are no longer a novelty and cease to deceive, their effect is gone.

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
Gone
Performances
Novelty
Lives
Fair
Deceiving
Conjurer
Three
Effect
Twice
Thrice
Two
Meant
Tricks
Booth
Men
Effects
Witness
Witnesses
Time
Generations
Performance
Deceive
Like
Longer
Cease
Sits
Seen
Fairs
Succession

More quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer

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If there is anything in the world that can really be called a man's property, it is surely that which is the result of his mental activity.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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Something of great importance now past is inferior to something of little importance now present, in that the latter is a reality, and related to the former as something to nothing.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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The man who goes up in a balloon does not feel as if he were ascending he only sees the earth sinking deeper below him.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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It is most important to allow the brain the full measure of sleep which is required to restore it for sleep is to a man's whole nature what winding up is to a clock.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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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 truth is that when an author begins to write for the sake of covering paper, he is cheating the reader because he writes under the pretext that he has something to say.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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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
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The reason domestic pets are so lovable and so helpful to us is because they enjoy, quietly and placidly, the present moment.
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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... that when you're buying books, you're optimistically thinking you're buying the time to read them. (Paraphrase of Schopenhauer)
Arthur Schopenhauer
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The little honesty that exists among authors is discernible in the unconscionable way they misquote from the writings of others.
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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How is it possible that suffering that is neither my own nor of my concern should immediately affect me as though it were my own, and with such force that is moves me to action?
Arthur Schopenhauer
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The business of the novelist is not to relate great events, but to make small ones interesting.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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Politeness is to human nature what warmth is to wax.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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Newspapers are the second hand of history. This hand, however, is usually not only of inferior metal to the other hands, it also seldom works properly.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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To call the world God is not to explain it it is only to enrich our language with a superfluous synonym.
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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Any book, which is at all important, should be reread immediately
Arthur Schopenhauer
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A man can be himself only so long as he is alone.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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What give all that is tragic, whatever its form, the characteristic of the sublime, is the first inkling of the knowledge that the world and life can give no satisfaction, and are not worth our investment in them. The tragic spirit consists in this. Accordingly it leads to resignation.
Arthur Schopenhauer