Arthur Schopenhauer quotes

Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher known for his work on pessimism and the nature of human desire. His major work, "The World as Will and Representation," greatly influenced existentialist and psychoanalytic thought. He is remembered for his profound impact on later philosophers and for shaping modern philosophical discourse. Here are 353 of his quotes:

Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things. (Arthur Schopenhauer)
The doctor sees all the weakness of mankind; the lawyer all the wickedness, the theologian all the stupidity. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
Compassion is the basis of morality. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves to be like other people. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
Reading is thinking with someone else's head instead of ones own. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
Every child is in a way a genius; and every genius is in a way a child. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
Everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
He who does not enjoy solitude will not love freedom. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
Compassion for animals is intimately associated with goodness of character, and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
Man is the only animal who causes pain to others with no other object than wanting to do so. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see. (Arthur Schopenhauer)
Men are by nature merely indifferent to one another; but women are by nature enemies. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
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. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
Honour is external conscience, and conscience is inward honour. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
Money is human happiness in the abstract; he, then, who is no longer capable of enjoying human happiness in the concrete devotes himself utterly to money. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
In our monogamous part of the world, to marry means to halve one's rights and double one's duties. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
After your death you will be what you were before your birth. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
Rascals are always sociable, more's the pity! and the chief sign that a man has any nobility in his character is the little pleasure he takes in others' company. (Arthur Schopenhauer)
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. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
How very paltry and limited the normal human intellect is, and how little lucidity there is in the human consciousness, may be judged from the fact that, despite the ephemeral brevity of human life, the uncertainty of our existence and the countless enigmas which press upon us from all sides, everyone does not continually and ceaselessly philosophize, but that only the rarest of exceptions do. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer
In the sphere of thought, absurdity and perversity remain the masters of the world, and their dominion is suspended only for brief periods. View quote
Arthur Schopenhauer

Arthur Schopenhauer

Arthur Schopenhauer - Image
Occupation: German Philosopher
Born: February 22, 1788
Died: September 21, 1860
Quotes count: 353
Wikipedia: Arthur Schopenhauer

Related authors

Friedrich Nietzsche - thumbnail
Friedrich Nietzsche  855 
German Philosopher
Immanuel Kant - thumbnail
Immanuel Kant  250 
German Philosopher
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel - thumbnail
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel  126 
German Philosopher
Soren Kierkegaard - thumbnail
Soren Kierkegaard  354 
Danish Theologian
Baruch Spinoza - thumbnail
Baruch Spinoza  338 
Dutch Philosopher
Martin Heidegger  90 
German Philosopher
Sigmund Freud - thumbnail
Sigmund Freud  233 
Austrian Neurologist
Jean-Paul Sartre - thumbnail
Jean-Paul Sartre  371 
French Philosopher
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - thumbnail
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe  710 
German Writer
Plato - thumbnail
Plato  332 
Greek Philosopher