Soren Kierkegaard Quotes

“On the secretly blushing cheek is reflected the glow of the heart”

“To pace about, looking to obtain status, looking to attain 'importance' - I can think of nothing more ridiculous.”

“A man may perform astonishing feats and comprehend a vast amount of knowledge, and yet have no understanding of himself. But suffering directs a man to look within. If it succeeds, then there, within him, is the beginning of his learning.”

“Love does not alter the beloved, it alters itself.”

“In actuality, no one ever sank so deep that he could not sink deeper, and there may be one or many who sank deeper. So it is always possible to be happy and grateful that things are not worse!”

“The truth must essentially be regarded as in conflict with this world; the world has never been so good, and will never become so good that the majority will desire the truth.”

“What our age lacks is not reflection, but passion.”

“A genius may perhaps be a century ahead of his age and hence stands there as a paradox, but in the end, the race will assimilate what was once a paradox, so it is no longer paradoxical.”

“Irony is the birth-pangs of the objective mind (based upon the misrelationship, discovered by the I , between existence and the idea of existence). Humor is the birth -pangs of the absolute mind (based upon the misrelationship, discovered by the I , between the I and the idea of the I .”

“It is not a gain that guilt should be wholly forgotten. On the contrary, it is loss and perdition. But it is a gain to win an inner intensity of heart through a deeper and deeper inner sorrowing over guilt.”

“Sleeping is the height of genius”

“There is peace and rest and comfort in sorrow”

“The more a person limits himself, the more resourceful he becomes.”

“It belongs to the imperfection of everything human that man can only attain his desire by passing through its opposite.”

“Absolute passion cannot be understood by a third party.”

“A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to warn the public; they thought it was a joke and applauded. He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater. I think that's just how the world will come to an end: to the general applause of wits who believe it's a joke.”

“For the sadness in legitimate humour consists in the fact that honestly and without deceit it reflects in a purely human way upon what it is to be a child.”

“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”

“The highest and most beautiful things in life are not to be heard about, nor read about, nor seen but, if one will, are to be lived.”

“If a man cannot forget, he will never amount to much.”

“Most people are subjective toward themselves and objective toward all others, frightfully objective sometimes--but the task is precisely to be objective toward oneself and subjective toward all others.”

“Backwards understood be only can but, forwards lived be must life.”

“Comparison is the most dangerous acquaintance love can make.”

“How did I get into the world? Why was I not asked about it and why was I not informed of the rules and regulations but just thrust into the ranks as if I had been bought by a peddling shanghaier of human beings? How did I get involved in this big enterprise called actuality? Why should I be involved? Isn't it a matter of choice? And if I am compelled to be involved, where is the manager—I have something to say about this. Is there no manager? To whom shall I make my complaint?”

“Genius, like a thunderstorm, comes up against the wind.”