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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.

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
First
Authors
Writing
Kinds
Kind
Subject
Sake
Subjects
Write
Two
Firsts

More quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer

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If at any moment Time stays his hand, it is only when we are delivered over to the miseries of boredom.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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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.
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the brut first knows death when it dies, but man draws consciously nearer to it every hour that he lives and this makes his life at times a questionable good even to him who has not recognised this character of constant anaihilation in the whole of life.
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A man must have grown old and lived long in order to see how short life is.
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The greatest intellectual capacities are only found in connection with a vehement and passionate will.
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Our civilized world is nothing but a great masquerade. You encounter knights, parsons, soldiers, doctors, lawyers, priests, philosophers and a thousand more: but they are not what they appear - they are merely masks... Usually, as I say, there is nothing but industrialists, businessmen and speculators concealed behind all these masks.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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Man is the only animal who causes pain to others with no other object than wanting to do so.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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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.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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With people of limited ability modesty is merely honesty. But with those who possess great talent it is hypocrisy.
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Nothing in life gives a man so much courage as the attainment or renewal of the conviction that other people regard him with favor because it means that everyone joins to give him help and protection, which is an infinitely stronger bulwark against the ills of life than anything he can do himself.
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The first forty years of life give us the text the next thirty supply the commentary on it.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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It is a curious fact that in bad days we can very vividly recall the good time that is now no more but that in good days, we have only a very cold and imperfect memory of the bad.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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The first rule for a good style is to have something to say in fact, this in itself is almost enough.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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Every parting gives a foretaste of death, every reunion a hint of the resurrection.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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Men best show their character in trifles, where they are not on their guard. It is in the simplest habits, that we often see the boundless egotism which pays no regard to the feelings of others and denies nothing to itself.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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The more unintelligent a man is, the less mysterious existence seems to him.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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As my own father was sick, and miserably tied to his invalid's chair, he would have been abandoned had not an old servant performed for him a so-called service of love. My mother gave parties while he was perishing in solitude, and amused herself while he was suffering bitter agonies
Arthur Schopenhauer
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To be shocked at how deeply rejection hurts is to ignore what acceptance involves. We must never allow our suffering to be compounded by suggestions that there is something odd in suffering so deeply. There would be something amiss if we didn't.
Arthur Schopenhauer
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The common man is not concerned about the passage of time, the man of talent is driven by it.
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Human life must be some form of mistake.
Arthur Schopenhauer