The 74 best famous phrases of Arthur Schopenhauer

We review the best philosophical reflections of this German thinker. Arthur Schopenhauer was a famous 19th century German philosopher, who is now considered one of the most relevant figures in modern philosophy.

The 74 best famous phrases of Arthur Schopenhauer
Schopenhauer's philosophy draws from many different sources, feeling himself inspired by Kant, Spinoza or Plato. Thanks to Schopenhauer's work we were able to understand Oriental philosophy in greater depth, since his way of thinking served as a bridge between both cultures.

Some of his most representative works were: "The world as will and representation", "On the will in nature" or "Parerga and Paralipómena", all of which are recommended reading.

Best quotes and reflections from Arthur Schopenhauer

Would you like to know the best phrases of this great German philosopher? Below you can discover the 75 most famous phrases of Arthur Schopenhauer, one of the most relevant philosophers of modern philosophy.

1. It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it elsewhere.
Happiness is an emotion that is always found within ourselves, to find it we must delve into our emotions.

2. The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom.
Pain and boredom are two great evils with which many of us fight every day, in order to be happy, we must get away from them.

3. Only change is eternal, perpetual, immortal.
During life, we all undergo changes, whether for better or for worse. Changes always come in one form or another.

4. Happiness is the frequent repetition of pleasure.
A great date with which many of us will completely agree.

5. The young person must, early on, be able to bear to be alone; since it is a source of happiness and peace of mind.
In solitude we can find ourselves, we must be alone in order to put our thoughts in order.

6. He who does not enjoy solitude will not love freedom.
We will all be alone at some point in life, we must learn to feel comfortable in solitude.

7. The best, most varied and lasting pleasures are those of the mind.
Every great pleasure is always given by our mind, because the brain is, without a doubt, the most pleasant organ in the human being.

8. What people commonly call destiny is, as a rule, nothing more than their own stupid and foolish behavior.
Blaming good or bad luck is not realistic, our actions will decide our future.

9. All truth goes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently rejected. Third, it is accepted as self-evident.
When something is true, it must be accepted sooner or later. The truth always comes to light.

10. Men are by nature merely indifferent to one another; but women are enemies by nature.
Men and women interact in society in a completely different way. Women show from an early age to have a greater ability for social relationships.

11. If a man wants to read good books, he must avoid bad ones; because life is short, and time and energy limited.
A great tip from this famous philosopher, we must carefully select the books we read.

12. When you look back on your life, it seems as if there is a plot, but when you are in it, it is a disaster: there is only one surprise after another. Later, you see it was perfect.
Life always ends up surprising us, human beings are completely unable to anticipate the events that happen to us every day.

13. A man can only be himself while he is alone; if he does not love his solitude, he will not love his freedom, because only when he is alone is he really free.
Loneliness also gives us many freedoms, the freedom to do what we really want when we want it.

14. The world is not a factory and animals are not products for our use.
We must respect the animal world, animals also feel and suffer just like us.

15. Each hero is a Samson. The strong man succumbs to the intrigues of the weak and the majority; and if in the end he loses patience he crushes both: both them and himself.
We should not be carried away by others, being manipulated we will not be able to achieve our own goals.

16. Religion is the metaphysics of the masses.
Religion is seen by certain people as a way of explaining the inexplicable.

17. Man is the only animal that causes pain to others with no other object than wanting to.
Evil is a quality that only man has, we are the only being that kills and hurts only for fun.

18. Compassion for animals is intimately linked with kindness of character, and I am sure that whoever is cruel to animals cannot be a good man.
A great quote, without a doubt, from this great man, we must be kind to animals and distrust anyone who is not.

19. Religions are like fireflies. They need darkness to shine.
Religion is often presented as a point of light in the dark to the most desperate people. We must respect the beliefs of others.

20. Surely, a man can do what he wants to do; however, you cannot determine what you want.
Knowing what we really want is a question that we should all ask ourselves, this question can be quite difficult to answer in practice.

21. If we suspect that a man is lying, we should pretend to believe in him; because then he becomes bolder and more confident, he lies harder, and is unmasked.
The lies in the end fall under their own weight, we should not use them in our lives. The truth is so powerful that in the end it always prevails.

22. The smarter a man is, the less mysterious existence is to him.
Intelligence gives us the opportunity to understand life in a better way, without a doubt it is a great quality that we should all possess.

23. Each day is a small life: each awakening and emergence is a small birth, each fresh morning is a small youth, each rest and sleep, a small death.
During the day, we all go through certain stages that effectively are a small representation of our whole life.

24. Wealth is like sea water; The more we drink, the more thirsty we become; the same is true of fame.
Wealth and fame are aspects of which one never has enough, we always seem to desire more than we possess.

25. Life without pain is meaningless.
We all suffer sometime in life, suffering is a feeling that nobody seems to be able to avoid.

26. Honor is not to be earned; it just shouldn't be lost.
Preserving our honor in life is very important, we must always act honestly and correctly with others.

27. Each nation ridicules other nations, and they are all correct.
Politics can lead us to make statements that we can regret, we must always be cautious when talking about others.

28. A man who does not have enough originality to think of a new title for his book will be much less capable of giving it new content.
Indeed, as Schopenhauer tells us in this quote, the really difficult thing about writing a book is being able to provide it with good content.

29. I am often amazed by the skill, and occasionally, by the stupidity of my dog; I have similar experiences with humanity.
Certain people demonstrate the same success in their actions as our furry best friends.

30. Compassion is the basis of morality.
By being compassionate we show ourselves to be morally above those who do not show compassion.

31. Life is a constant process of agony.
Life is a process in which we can get to suffer a lot, but it will also depend on our daily acts how much we can get to suffer.

32. Journalists are like dogs, when nothing moves they begin to bark.
We should not give the media complete truthfulness until the facts are fully established.

33. The doctor sees all the weaknesses of humanity; the lawyer all the evil, the theologian all the stupidity.
Schopenhauer had a very particular way of understanding the church and its activities. Do you think I was right?

34. Satisfaction consists in the absence of pain, which is the positive element of life.
The absence of pain can allow us to live a much more comfortable life, we all wish we didn't have to feel any pain.

35. The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty provide us with the commentary on it.
When we reach maturity we start looking more back than forward.

36. Every genius is a great child; he looks at the world as something strange, like a spectacle, and therefore with a purely objective interest.
Curiosity is the basis of all knowledge, since only those who show great curiosity really have a thirst for knowledge.

37. Patriotism is the passion of fools and the dumbest of passions.

For Arthur Schopenhauer patriotism as we see, was not an essential aspect in the life of men.

38. Authority and example lead the world.
For others to follow our example, we must preach with our own actions.

39. A man can be himself only while alone.
When we are completely alone we demonstrate our authentic way of being.

40. Style is what gives thought value and circulation.
We all have a particular way of thinking and acting, this way of being will always be our style of facing life.

23. Each day is a small life: each awakening and emergence is a small birth, each fresh morning is a small youth, each rest and sleep, a small death.
During the day, we all go through certain stages that effectively are a small representation of our whole life.

24. Wealth is like sea water; The more we drink, the more thirsty we become; the same is true of fame.
Wealth and fame are aspects of which one never has enough, we always seem to desire more than we possess.

25. Life without pain is meaningless.
We all suffer sometime in life, suffering is a feeling that nobody seems to be able to avoid.

26. Honor is not to be earned; it just shouldn't be lost.
Preserving our honor in life is very important, we must always act honestly and correctly with others.

27. Each nation ridicules other nations, and they are all correct.
Politics can lead us to make statements that we can regret, we must always be cautious when talking about others.

28. A man who does not have enough originality to think of a new title for his book will be much less capable of giving it new content.
Indeed, as Schopenhauer tells us in this quote, the really difficult thing about writing a book is being able to provide it with good content.

29. I am often amazed by the skill, and occasionally, by the stupidity of my dog; I have similar experiences with humanity.
Certain people demonstrate the same success in their actions as our furry best friends.

30. Compassion is the basis of morality.
By being compassionate we show ourselves to be morally above those who do not show compassion.

31. Life is a constant process of agony.
Life is a process in which we can get to suffer a lot, but it will also depend on our daily acts how much we can get to suffer.

32. Journalists are like dogs, when nothing moves they begin to bark.
We should not give the media complete truthfulness until the facts are fully established.

33. The doctor sees all the weaknesses of humanity; the lawyer all the evil, the theologian all the stupidity.
Schopenhauer had a very particular way of understanding the church and its activities. Do you think I was right?

34. Satisfaction consists in the absence of pain, which is the positive element of life.
The absence of pain can allow us to live a much more comfortable life, we all wish we didn't have to feel any pain.

35. The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty provide us with the commentary on it.
When we reach maturity we start looking more back than forward.

36. Every genius is a great child; he looks at the world as something strange, like a spectacle, and therefore with a purely objective interest.
Curiosity is the basis of all knowledge, since only those who show great curiosity really have a thirst for knowledge.

37. Patriotism is the passion of fools and the dumbest of passions.

For Arthur Schopenhauer patriotism as we see, was not an essential aspect in the life of men.

38. Authority and example lead the world.
For others to follow our example, we must preach with our own actions.

39. A man can be himself only while alone.
When we are completely alone we demonstrate our authentic way of being.

40. Style is what gives thought value and circulation.
We all have a particular way of thinking and acting, this way of being will always be our style of facing life.

41. In good health, everything is a source of pleasure; without it, nothing, whatever it is, is pleasant. Health is the most important element in human happiness.
Health is a fundamental aspect in anyone's life, when it is lacking, life becomes much more complicated.

42. Men need some kind of external activity, as they are inactive within.
Certain people do not reflect as much as they should in their personal lives, their way of acting can reveal this curious aspect about them.

43. Each generation, no matter how miserable in character, thinks itself much wiser than the one immediately preceding it, not to mention those that are further away.
Youth brings with it a certain pride and a clear lack of risk perception, we must know how to advise ourselves by those who are wiser than us.

44. A writer should never be short, at the expense of being clear.
Being brief can sometimes be simply impossible, because when we have a lot to explain, a few words may not be enough.

45. It is very easy to think what everyone thinks right now; However, thinking what everyone will think in thirty years is not in the power of the majority.
We must not be carried away by what the majority does, we must be completely faithful to our way of being.

46. ​​A pessimist is an optimist in full possession of the facts.
Being a little pessimistic shows our good sense, a cautious man, worth two.

47. We must set limits to our desires, curb our desires, moderate our anger, always remembering that an individual can only achieve an infinitesimal part of everything worth having; and that, on the other hand, everyone incurs many of life's ills.
Obviously we must pursue our dreams, but what we must not do is perform bad actions for the sake of our own satisfaction.

48. Pleasure is never as pleasant as expected and pain is always more painful. Pain in the world always outweighs pleasure. If you don't believe it, compare the respective feelings of two animals, one of which is eating the other.
Pain is always present in the life of all living beings, nobody seems capable of running away from it.

49. The presumption that animals have no rights, and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance, is a truly outrageous example of Western brutality and cruelty. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality.
We must watch over the rights of animals and look for a future for them where the human being treats them with the dignity they deserve.

50. Descartes is, correctly, considered the father of modern philosophy, because he helped the faculty of reason to stand on its own feet, by teaching men to use their brains, in the place they had previously occupied the Bible and Aristotle.
As we can see in this quote, the French philosopher René Descartes, is a clear source of inspiration for Arthur Schopenhauer. Descartes is another great philosopher that we should all know.

51. Sexual passion is the cause of war and the end of peace, it is the foundation of what is serious and, consequently, the concentration of all desire.
War is a really tough period that many have had to go through, we must fight to maintain peace and harmony in the world.

52. Waiting for a man to retain everything he has ever read is like waiting for him to carry in his body everything he has ever eaten.
When we read we assimilate the concepts that interest us most from a text, but we do not memorize the text in its entirety. Summarizing what we read is a better way to remember.

53. Money is good in itself, because it is not only a concrete satisfaction of a particular need; it is a satisfaction of everything.
Money by itself is neither good nor bad, it depends on how we use it if it creates something positive for society or not.

54. A reproach can only hurt if it hits the target. Who knows that he does not deserve a reproach, can treat it with contempt.
When we realize that others are aware of our shortcomings, that knowledge hurts us.

55. It is difficult, if not impossible, to define the limit of our rational desires regarding possessions.
The simplest and simplest things in life are also the ones that can give us the most satisfaction.

56. The general history of art and literature shows that the highest achievements of the human mind are not, as a general rule and initially, favorably received.
Innovative and transgressive ideas often collide with the ideas that preceded them, the novelty can be scary for some people.

57. I have never known any problem that one hour of reading does not alleviate.
Reading is an activity that can affect our lives in a very positive way, with reading we can develop intellectually and emotionally.

58. Just remember: once you are on the hill, you start to pick up speed.
When we manage to reach the top of a mountain after a long climb, the rest of the way will be downhill. In life, this fact also happens.

59. Opinion is like a pendulum and obeys the same law.
People's opinion may change over time. Our personal experience leads us to change our opinion about certain things.

60. Music is the answer to the mystery of life. The deepest of all the arts, it expresses the deepest thoughts of life.
Music is an art that all people enjoy, it can help us to live our lives in a much fuller way.

61. If God created the world, I would not want to be that God, because the misery of the world would break my heart.
If God could see certain situations that happen in the world, he would indeed have a very difficult time. We must take much more care of our planet and all the beings that inhabit it.

62. Hate is a matter of the heart; contempt is a matter of the head.
Many times we are not fully aware of where our emotions come from.

63. The Universe is a dream dreamed by a single dreamer, where all the characters in the dream also dream.
A very poetic way of seeing the universe. Metaphysics is currently trying to understand all its mysteries, but many still remain unsolved.

64. Almost all of our pain arises from our relationships with other people.
Personal relationships can be very complicated, it is more reasonable to be alone than in bad company.

65. Faith is like love: it does not allow itself to be forced.
In order to truly believe in faith and love, we must be able to harbor these feelings in our own hearts.

66. Music is the melody whose text is the world.
Music is able to give a much kinder aspect to our life. With music everything is perceived as better or prettier.

67. To overcome difficulties, it is necessary to experience the full delight of existence.
We must fight against the problems that are presented to us in our day to day, the grace of life is to be able to overcome our own difficulties.

68. I believe that when death closes our eyes we will awaken to the light, of which our Sun is only the shadow.
What will happen after death? Something that no one knows and that we will all discover someday.

69. Friends and acquaintances are the best passport to fortune.
Our friends can help us improve our lives, being sociable people is essential to achieve success.

70. A sense of humor is the only divine quality in man.
The sense of humor is, without a doubt, a very curious quality of man, since very few animals are capable of laughing.

71. Living alone is the destiny of all great souls.
Life is a path that we all must walk, but what we learn along our path will depend on us. We must make the most of our lives.

72. Everything that happens happens out of necessity.
Many of us feel the urgent need to find an explanation for everything that happens.

73. There is something in us that is wiser than our head.
Feelings often lead us down very different paths from those chosen by reason.

74. Buying books would be a good thing if we could also buy the time to read them.
We must encourage reading in our friends, children and family. Reading is beneficial to anyone.

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