Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) was a German philosopher and essayist. He is one of the most prominent figures in the history of philosophy. He emphasized the primacy of the will over both reason and sensation. He was greatly influenced by Indian philosophical thought, which he held was consistent with Immanuel Kant’s philosophy in every significant respect.
Schopenhauer’s pessimistic philosophy is based on studies of Kant, Plato, and the Hindu Upaniṣads. In his principal work, Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung (1819; The World as Will and Idea, 1883,) he contended that the will (self-consciousness in man and the unconscious forces of nature) is the only reality and that the material world is but an illusion (“idea” or “representation”) created by the will.
Schopenhauer was one of the first Western thinkers to take Indian philosophical thought seriously. Admiring the Hindu and Buddhist philosophies of forbearance and resignation, he maintained that happiness is achieved only by renouncing the will (as desired.) Asceticism and purity are the obligations of humankind to terminate the evil. Egoism, which expresses itself principally as ‘the will to live,’ must be conquered.
Schopenhauer also published Ü ber den Willen in der Natur (On the Will in Nature, 1836,) on how his philosophy was consistent with the sciences, and Die Beiden Grundprobleme der Ethik (The Two Fundamental Problems of Ethics, 1841.)
Schopenhauer’s philosophy influenced many intellectuals, including Friedrich Nietzsche, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Richard Wagner, Leo Tolstoy, and Jorge Luis Borges.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Arthur Schopenhauer
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.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Truth, Prejudice
Time is that in which all things pass away.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Time
Will minus intellect constitutes vulgarity.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Will Power, Willpower, Will
How very paltry and limited the normal human intellect is, and how little lucidity there is in the human consciousness, may be judged from the fact that, despite the ephemeral brevity of human life, the uncertainty of our existence and the countless enigmas which press upon us from all sides, everyone does not continually and ceaselessly philosophize, but that only the rarest of exceptions do.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Philosophers, Philosophy
Vengeance taken will often tear the heart and torment the conscience.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Revenge, Vengeance
Wicked thoughts and worthless efforts gradually set their mark on the face, especially the eyes.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Face, Faces
To find out your real opinion of someone, judge the impression you have when you first see a letter from them.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Opinion, Opinions, Letters
The mother of the useful art, is necessity; that of the fine arts, is luxury.—the former have intellect for their father; the latter, genius, which itself is kind of luxury.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Art
According to me, the influence of Sanskrit literature will not be lesser than what was, in the 16th century, Greece’s influence on Renaissance. One day, India’s wisdom will flow again on Europe and will totally transform our knowledge and thought.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Patriotism, when it wants to make itself felt in the domain of learning, is a dirty fellow who should be thrown out of doors.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Patriotism
To overcome difficulties is to experience the full delight of existence.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Opposition
Happiness belongs to those who are sufficient unto themselves. For all external sources of happiness and pleasure are, by their very nature, highly uncertain, precarious, ephemeral, and subject to chance.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Happiness, Self-reliance, Confidence
It is only at the first encounter that a face makes its full impression on us.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Faces, Face
Reading is equivalent to thinking with someone else’s head instead of with one’s own.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Literature, Thinking, Books, Reading
Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Money, Defects, Greed
It is a clear gain to sacrifice pleasure in order to avoid pain.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Sacrifice
Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
In our monogamous part of the world, to marry means to halve one’s rights and double one’s duties.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Marriage
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.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Socialism, Communism
The ultimate foundation of honor is the conviction that moral character is unalterable: a single bad action implies that future actions of the same kind will, under similar circumstances, also be bad.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Honor
Men best show their character in trifles, where they are not on their guard.—It is in insignificant matters, and in the simplest habits, that we often see the boundless egotism which pays no regard to the feelings of others, and denies nothing to itself.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Character
In the whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Upanishads. It has been the solace of my life—it will be the solace of my death.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
If there is anything in the world that can really be called a mans property, it is surely that which is the result of his mental activity.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
After your death you will be what you were before your birth.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Birth, Dying, Death, Nature
The wise have always said the same things, and fools, who are the majority have always done just the opposite.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Wisdom
The two foes of human happiness are pain and boredom
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Happiness, Boredom, One liners, Pain
Because people have no thoughts to deal in, they deal cards, and try and win one another’s money. Idiots!
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Human existence must be a kind of error…it may be said of it, ‘it is bad today and every day it will get worse, until the worst of all happens’.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Depression
Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Religion
The alchemists in their search for gold discovered many other things of greater value.
—Arthur Schopenhauer
Topics: Curiosity
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Friedrich Nietzsche German Philosopher, Scholar
Immanuel Kant Prussian German Philosopher
Wilhelm von Humboldt German Statesman, Scholar
Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi German Philosopher
Martin Heidegger German Existential Philosopher
Immanuel Hermann Fichte German Philosopher
Johann Gottfried Herder German Poet, Literary Critic
Moses Mendelssohn German Jewish Philosopher
Friedrich Schiller German Poet
Hannah Arendt German-American Political Theorist