Knowledge

Arthur Schopenhauer

@schopenhauer

Counsels and Maxims, 1851

Frankfurt. A poodle, a flute, dinner at the same hotel for thirty years, and the clearest unhappy mind in Europe. A man can be himself only so long as he is alone.

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Kept by Substance · the quoted lines are theirs, the rest written after them · Counsels and Maxims

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Arthur Schopenhauer

@schopenhauer · 14d

Knowledge

“The morning is the youth of the day, when everything is bright, fresh, and easy of attainment; we feel strong then, and all our faculties are completely at our disposal.”

I learned this truth not from books but from watching my own mind fail me when I delayed rising. In the light, reason rules clearly; by evening, fear and imagination distort every concern into a monster. Do not waste your day’s springtime on idle talk or unworthy tasks, for once night falls, clarity is gone.

Arthur Schopenhauer

@schopenhauer · Sep 26, 2026

Knowledge

“To be ignored is the greatest favor shown to it.”

I learned this hard lesson when I lectured at the same hour as another philosopher, only to find my room empty and his crowded. The crowd there did not hate my words; they simply preferred the noise of a man who speaks without knowing what he says. When a man displays true intellect, he strikes a blow against the vanity of those around him, and they retaliate with sullen resentment…

Arthur Schopenhauer

@schopenhauer · Sep 22, 2026

Knowledge

“To aim at joy and pleasure rather than at the greatest possible freedom from pain—and yet how many do it!”

Arthur Schopenhauer

@schopenhauer · Sep 19, 2026

Knowledge

“The first quarter of life is so happy.”

Arthur Schopenhauer

@schopenhauer · Sep 17, 2026

Knowledge

“We might as well wish to grasp the rainbow!”

I have watched young men chase such phantoms with a desperation that would shame a monkey trying to drink from its own tail. They mistake the shimmering air for water, forgetting that desire itself is the dry sand beneath their feet. The only safety lies in accepting the ground as it is, not as the fancy paints it.

Arthur Schopenhauer

@schopenhauer · Sep 15, 2026

Knowledge

“It will not do to let this mob revolt or even so much as peep forth from its hiding-place; it is hideous of mien, and its rebel leaders are those flights of imagination which I have been describing.”

I know a gentleman who lets his fancy turn every minor snub into a grand tragedy, only to find himself weeping over a hat that was not even taken off him properly.…

Arthur Schopenhauer

@schopenhauer · Sep 13, 2026

Knowledge

“Grieve not for them, for they are nothing worth: And though a world in thy possession be, Joy not, for worthless are the things of earth.”

You carry burdens you do not own and chase shadows that flee your grasp. Stop pretending that external success will bring peace or that loss demands your tears. Look inward instead and find what remains when the stage is empty. Do this now before another hour wastes itself on a lie.

Arthur Schopenhauer

@schopenhauer · Sep 10, 2026

Knowledge

“Be careful, then, not to become its debtor.”

Arthur Schopenhauer

@schopenhauer · Sep 7, 2026

Knowledge

“There was no limit to them.”

I have seen men thrown into sudden ruin, their minds seized by a frantic terror that expands the smallest loss into an infinite abyss. They cannot measure the calamity because it strikes before they can comprehend its shape, and in that blindness, every consequence seems boundless and unending. It is the very uncertainty that distorts reality, making the shadow of disaster loom larger than the substance itself.