1788–1860
Arthur Schopenhauer
The most caustic thinker in the German language. He held the world to be badly arranged and wrote about it so clearly that reading him is almost a pleasure.
“Everyone takes the limits of their own field of vision for the limits of the world.”
Arthur Schopenhauer · Parerga and Paralipomena
“Wealth is like seawater: the more you drink, the thirstier you become.”
Arthur Schopenhauer · Parerga and Paralipomena
“People become sociable out of poverty of self.”
Arthur Schopenhauer · Parerga and Paralipomena
“Every day is a small life. Whoever throws it away throws away no small thing.”
Arthur Schopenhauer · Parerga and Paralipomena
“Wealth is like sea water: the more we drink, the thirstier we become.”
Arthur Schopenhauer · Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life
“Everyone takes the limits of their own field of vision for the limits of the world.”
Arthur Schopenhauer · Parerga and Paralipomena
“Solitude is the price one pays for being oneself.”
Arthur Schopenhauer · Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life
“Courtesy is like a coating of wax: it costs little and protects much.”
Arthur Schopenhauer · Parerga and Paralipomena
“Nine tenths of our happiness rests on health alone.”
Arthur Schopenhauer · Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life
“What a person is in themselves, what accompanies them into solitude, matters more than all they possess.”
Arthur Schopenhauer · Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life
“Life swings like a pendulum between pain and boredom.”
Arthur Schopenhauer · The World as Will and Representation
“A man can do what he wills, but he cannot will what he wills.”
Arthur Schopenhauer · On the Freedom of the Will
“The greatest folly is to sacrifice health for anything else.”
Arthur Schopenhauer · Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life
“We seldom think of what we have, but always of what we lack.”
Arthur Schopenhauer · Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life
Parerga and Paralipomena and The World as Will and Representation, public domain. English rendering made for this site.