Inspirational Quotes
Words to motivate, inspire, and guide you.
Arthur Schopenhauer Quotes
IntellectPerceptionExistenceMystery The more unintelligent a man is, the less mysterious existence seems to him.
PatriotismEducationAcademic Freedom Patriotism, when it wants to make itself felt in the domain of learning, is a dirty fellow who should be thrown out of doors.
TruthPrejudiceBias 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.
MarriageRightsDuties In our monogamous part of the world, to marry means to halve one's rights and double one's duties.
Inner SelfEffortConsequenceAppearance Wicked thoughts and worthless efforts gradually set their mark on the face, especially the eyes.
SleepLongevityMortality Sleep is the interest we have to pay on the capital which is called in at death; and the higher the rate of interest and the more regularly it is paid, the further the date of redemption is postponed.
JournalismHistoryAccuracyMedia Critique Newspapers are the second hand of history. This hand, however, is usually not only of inferior metal to the other hands, it also seldom works properly.
IntellectFollyGamblingMaterialism Because people have no thoughts to deal in, they deal cards, and try and win one another's money. Idiots!
LifeExperienceReflectionWisdom The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty supply the commentary on it.
ContentmentUnawarenessDesire The man never feels the want of what it never occurs to him to ask for.
Gender DifferencesHuman NatureRelationshipConflictIndifference Men are by nature merely indifferent to one another; but women are by nature enemies.
Inner SelfExpressionAuthenticityCharacter A man's face as a rule says more, and more interesting things, than his mouth, for it is a compendium of everything his mouth will ever say, in that it is the monogram of all this man's thoughts and aspirations.
SuicideIndividual RightsAutonomy of Life 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.
ChildhoodBelief FormationIndoctrinationRepetition There is no absurdity so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to inculcate it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity.
ReligionTrainingThought Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.
SolitudeFreedomSelf-discovery A man can be himself only so long as he is alone, and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom, for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.
SufferingInjusticeBetrayal Suffering by nature or chance never seems so painful as suffering inflicted on us by the arbitrary will of another.
SuccessPerspectiveValidationEmpathy We can come to look upon the deaths of our enemies with as much regret as we feel for those of our friends, namely, when we miss their existence as witnesses to our success.
Self-interestHuman NatureMeaning of Life If we were not all so interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it.
ReadingThoughtPerspectiveLearning Reading is equivalent to thinking with someone else's head instead of with one's own.
OriginalitySelf-UnderstandingIndividuality It is only a man's own fundamental thoughts that have truth and life in them. For it is these that he really and completely understands. To read the thoughts of others is like taking the remains of someone else's meal, like putting on the discarded clothes of a stranger.
PerceptionPerspectiveLimitation Every person takes the limits of their own field of vision for the limits of the world.
ModestyTalentAuthenticity With people of limited ability modesty is merely honesty. But with those who possess great talent it is hypocrisy.
ImpermanenceUncertaintyPossessionsHappiness Every possession and every happiness is but lent by chance for an uncertain time, and may therefore be demanded back the next hour.
CharacterAuthenticitySelf-revelation It is with trifles, and when he is off guard, that a man best reveals his character.
WeaknessWickednessStupidity The doctor sees all the weakness of mankind; the lawyer all the wickedness, the theologian all the stupidity.
BooksReadingKnowledgeTime 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.
ObstinacyWillIntellect Obstinacy is the result of the will forcing itself into the place of the intellect.
BrainBodyRelationshipDependence The brain may be regarded as a kind of parasite of the organism, a pensioner, as it were, who dwells with the body.
LifeRebirthRenewalEndings 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.
Self-ControlTrue NatureDesire vs ActionWillpowerInner Strength A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants.
AbstractionAlienationMaterialismContrastFulfillment 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.
Human NatureNational BehaviorCriticism and JudgmentDuality of Righteousness National character is only another name for the particular form which the littleness, perversity and baseness of mankind take in every country. Every nation mocks at other nations, and all are right.
ContrastFameHonestyResponsibilityValue 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.
ReactivitySurface Level AnalysisSensitivityCommunication Journalists are like dogs, when ever anything moves they begin to bark.
ThoughtAbsurdityPerversityDominionTransience In the sphere of thought, absurdity and perversity remain the masters of the world, and their dominion is suspended only for brief periods.
RelationshipSocial InteractionsEmotionInfluence Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people.
CreativitySkepticismResistanceHuman PotentialInnovation The greatest achievements of the human mind are generally received with distrust.
PerspectivesPrejudiceNationalismCultural BiasRelativism Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right.
BalanceClarityAuthenticityCommunication Styles For an author to write as he speaks is just as reprehensible as the opposite fault, to speak as he writes; for this gives a pedantic effect to what he says, and at the same time makes him hardly intelligible.
SacrificeGainPain AvoidanceDelayed GratificationSelf-Control It is a clear gain to sacrifice pleasure in order to avoid pain.