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Arthur Schopenhauer

42 quotes

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) was a German philosopher best known for his work *The World as Will and Representation*. His philosophy, which emphasized the role of human desire and will as the driving force behind suffering, deeply influenced later thinkers including Nietzsche, Freud, and Wittgenstein.

“Treat a work of art like a prince. Let it speak to you first.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Art

All Quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer

“We can come to look upon the deaths of our enemies with as much regret as we feel for those of our friends, namely, when we miss their existence as witnesses to our success.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Success

“In action a great heart is the chief qualification. In work, a great head.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Great

“Politeness is to human nature what warmth is to wax.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Nature

“To live alone is the fate of all great souls.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Alone

“Men are by nature merely indifferent to one another but women are by nature enemies.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Men

“Suffering by nature or chance never seems so painful as suffering inflicted on us by the arbitrary will of another.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Nature

“Sleep is the interest we have to pay on the capital which is called in at death and the higher the rate of interest and the more regularly it is paid, the further the date of redemption is postponed.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Death

“A man can be himself only so long as he is alone.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Alone

“It is with trifles, and when he is off guard, that a man best reveals his character.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Best

“Every parting gives a foretaste of death, every reunion a hint of the resurrection.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Death

“Each day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth, every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and sleep a little death.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Death

“Treat a work of art like a prince. Let it speak to you first.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Art

“It is only a man's own fundamental thoughts that have truth and life in them. For it is these that he really and completely understands. To read the thoughts of others is like taking the remains of someone else's meal, like putting on the discarded clothes of a stranger.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Truth

“The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Truth

“Satisfaction consists in freedom from pain, which is the positive element of life.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Freedom

“Music is the melody whose text is the world.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Music

“Will power is to the mind like a strong blind man who carries on his shoulders a lame man who can see.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Power

“Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Intelligence

“The doctor sees all the weakness of mankind the lawyer all the wickedness, the theologian all the stupidity.”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Medical

“Because people have no thoughts to deal in, they deal cards, and try and win one another's money. Idiots!”

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Money