498 Powerful Arthur Schopenhauer Quotes to Inspire You
2. “Consideration of the kind, touched on above, might, indeed, lead us to embrace the belief that the greatest wisdom is to make the enjoyment of the present the supreme object of life; because that is the only reality, all else being merely the play of thought. On the other hand, such a course might just as well be called the greatest folly: for that which in the next moment exists no more, and vanishes utterly, like a dream, can never be worth a serious effort.”
Arthur Schopenhauer
Present Moment, Wisdom, Enjoyment, Philosophy, Existential Thought
3. “To gain anything we have longed for is only to discover how vain and empty it is; and even though we are always living in expectation of better things, at the same time we often repent and long to have the past back again.”
Arthur Schopenhauer Desire, Disappointment, Longing, Human Condition, Reflection
7. “When, at the end of their lives, most men look back they will find that they have lived throughout ad interim. They will be surprised to see that the very thing they allowed to slip unappreciated and unenjoyed by was their life. And so a man, having been duped by hope, dances into the arms of death.”
Arthur Schopenhauer Reflection, Life, Regret, Mortality, Philosophical Insight
14. “Pleasure is never as pleasant as we expected it to be and pain is always more painful. The pain in the world always outweighs the pleasure. If you don’t believe it, compare the respective feelings of two animals, one of which is eating the other.”
Arthur Schopenhauer Pleasure, Pain, Human Experience, Emotion, Existential Reflection
25. “For what is our civilized world but a big masquerade? where you meet knights, priests, soldiers, men of learning, barristers, clergymen, philosophers, and I don’t know what all! But they are not what they pretend to be; they are only masks, and, as a rule, behind the masks you will find moneymakers.”
Arthur Schopenhauer Society, Masks, Identity, Human Nature, Critique
29. “Thus, flowers cannot be preserved, but their ethereal oil, their essence, with the same smell and the same virtues, can. The conduct that has had correct concepts for its guidance will, in the result, coincide with the reality intended.”
Arthur Schopenhauer Essence, Preservation, Nature, Values, Philosophical Reflection
30. “Do not shorten the morning by getting up late, or waste it in unworthy occupations or in talk; look upon it as the quintessence of life, as to a certain extent sacred. Evening is like old age: we are languid, talkative, silly. 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 Morning, Purpose, Routine, Life Cycles, Reflection
