23 Most Powerful Lessons From Arthur Schopenhauer

1. It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else

2. A man shows his character just in the way in which he deals with trifles-for then he is off his guard

3. With people of limited ability modesty is merely honesty. But with those who possess great talent, it is hypocrisy

4. Compassion for animals is intimately associated with goodness of character, and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man

5. Politeness is to human nature what warmth is to wax

6. In action a great heart is the chief qualification. In work, a great head

7. Wicked thoughts and worthless efforts gradually set their mark on the face, especially the eyes

8. There is no doubt that life is given us, not to be enjoyed, but to be overcome; to be got over

9. In early youth, as we contemplate our coming life, we are like children in a theater before the curtain is raised, sitting there in high spirits and eagerly waiting for the play to begin

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

11. Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point

12. Truth that is naked is the most beautiful, and the simpler its expression the deeper is the impression it makes

13. If you want to know your true opinion of someone, watch the effect produced in you by the first sight of a letter from him

14. The intellectual attainments of a man who thinks for himself resemble a fine painting, where the light and shade are correct, the tone sustained

15. The fundament upon which all our knowledge and learning rests is the inexplicable

16. A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he doesn’t love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free

17. It’s the niceties that make the difference fate gives us the hand, and we play the cards

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

19. Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world

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

21. A man’s delight in looking forward to and hoping for some particular satisfaction is a part of the pleasure flowing out of it, enjoyed in advance. But this is afterward deducted, for the more we look forward to anything the less we enjoy it when it comes

22. Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills

23. Life is a constant process of dying

Thank you for reading.