Philosophical Arthur Schopenhauer Quotes About Life

The person who writes for fools is always sure of a large audience.

Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things.

Honor means that a man is not exceptional; fame, that he is. Fame is something which must be won; honor, only something which must not be lost.

Boredom is just the reverse side of fascination: both depend on being outside rather than inside a situation, and one leads to the other.

The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom.

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.

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.

It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.

Compassion is the basis of morality.

Hatred is an affair of the heart; contempt that of the head.

A sense of humour is the only divine quality of man.

One should use common words to say uncommon things.

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.

Opinion is like a pendulum and obeys the same law. If it goes past the centre of gravity on one side, it must go a like distance on the other; and it is only after a certain time that it finds the true point at which it can remain at rest.

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.

Wicked thoughts and worthless efforts gradually set their mark on the face, especially the eyes.

Every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized. In the first, it is ridiculed. In the second, it is opposed. In the third, it is regarded as self-evident.

They tell us that suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice... that suicide is wrong; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person.

Truth is no prostitute, that throws herself away upon those who do not desire her; she is rather so coy a beauty that he who sacrifices everything to her cannot even then be sure of her favour.

You can do what you will, but in any given moment of your life you can will only one definite thing.