Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860): German philosopher. The library holds 157 quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer. The 60 below are the most quoted; search the library in the maker for the rest.
Natural ability can almost compensate for the want of every kind of cultivation; but no cultivation of the mind can make up for the want of natural ability.
The mother of the useful arts is necessity; that of the fine arts is luxury. For father, the former has intellect; the latter, genius, which itself is a kind of luxury.
The tongue tells the thought of one man only, whereas the face expresses a thought of nature itself; so that every one is worth attentive observation, even though every one may not be worth talking to.
The world is glorious to look at, but dreadful in reality; it is one thing as a drama to a spectator, quite another thing to the actors in the plot, for in it the will is thwarted at every turn.
Suffering which falls to our lot in the course of nature, or by chance or fate, does not, “ceteris paribus,” seem so painful as suffering which is inflicted on us by the arbitrary will of another.
To be always lamenting and always complaining without raising and nerving one’s self to resignation, is to lose at once both earth and heaven, and have nothing over but a watery sentimentalism.
The face of man gives us fuller and more interesting information than his tongue; for his face is the compendium of all he will ever say, as it is the one record of all he has thought and endeavoured.
The characteristic mark of minds (Geister) of the first order is the directness (Unmittelbarkeit) of all their judgments. All that they bring forth (vorbringen) is the result of their own thinking.
In such a world as this a man who is rich in himself is like a bright, warm, happy room at Christmastide, while without are the frost and snow of a December night.
Authors may be divided into falling stars, planets, and fixed stars: the first have a momentary effect. The second have a much longer duration. But the third are unchangeable, possess their own light, and work for all time.