Arthur Schopenhauer

Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude.

To live alone is the fate of all great souls.

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.

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.

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

The doctor sees all the weakness of mankind; the lawyer all the wickedness, the theologian all the stupidity.

As the biggest library if it is in disorder is not as useful as a small but well-arranged one, so you may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself.

Suffering by nature or chance never seems so painful as suffering inflicted on us by the arbitrary will of another.

Every possession and every happiness is but lent by chance for an uncertain time, and may therefore be demanded back the next hour.

Will power is to the mind like a strong blind man who carries on his shoulders a lame man who can see.

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.

If children were brought into the world by an act of pure reason alone, would the human race continue to exist? Would not a man rather have so much sympathy with the coming generation as to spare it the burden of existence, or at any rate not take it upon himself to impose that burden upon it in cold blood?

Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think.

Patriotism, when it wants to make itself felt in the domain of learning, is a dirty fellow who should be thrown out of doors.

Talent hits a target no one else can hit Genius hits a target no one else can see.

The greatest of follies is to sacrifice health for any other kind of happiness.

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.

The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom.