Soren Kierkegaard Quotes

Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality ... -Soren Kierkegaard

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

How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech.

Not just in commerce but in the world of ideas too our age is putting on a veritable clearance sale. Everything can be had so dirt cheap that one begins to wonder whether in the end anyone will want to make a bid.

Because of its tremendous solemnity death is the light in which great passions, both good and bad, become transparent, no longer limited by outward appearences.

Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless hast... -Soren Kierkegaard

Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it.

Discovering the context

This quote reflects on the tendency of many men to pursue pleasure or enjoyment so eagerly and hurriedly that they fail to fully experience or appreciate it, potentially missing out on its true value.

The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.

Love is all, it gives all, and it takes all.

God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners.

It seems essential, in relationships and all tasks, that we concentrate only on what is most significant and important.

Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who... -Soren Kierkegaard

Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.

Discovering the context

This quote suggests that the act of prayer brings about transformative effects within the person who engages in it, shaping their perspective, mindset, and relationship with God, rather than altering the nature of God.

There are, as is known, insects that die in the moment of fertilization. So it is with all joy: life's highest, most splendid moment of enjoyment is accompanied by death.

Marriage brings one into fatal connection with custom and tradition, and traditions and customs are like the wind and weather, altogether incalculable.

The paradox is really the pathos of intellectual life and just as only great souls are exposed to passions it is only the great thinker who is exposed to what I call paradoxes, which are nothing else than grandiose thoughts in embryo.

Our life always expresses the result of our domina... -Soren Kierkegaard

Our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts.

A man who as a physical being is always turned toward the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within him.

Patience is necessary, and one cannot reap immedia... -Soren Kierkegaard

Patience is necessary, and one cannot reap immediately where one has sown.

People commonly travel the world over to see rivers and mountains, new stars, garish birds, freak fish, grotesque breeds of human; they fall into an animal stupor that gapes at existence and they think they have seen something.

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.

The truth is a snare: you cannot have it, without being caught. You cannot have the truth in such a way that you catch it, but only in such a way that it catches you.

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must... -Soren Kierkegaard

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation ... -Soren Kierkegaard

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.

Faith is the highest passion in a human being. Many in every generation may not come that far, but none comes further.

Don't forget to love yourself.

Once you label me you negate me.

Personality is only ripe when a man has made the t... -Soren Kierkegaard

Personality is only ripe when a man has made the truth his own.

Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.

Take away paradox from the thinker and you have a ... -Soren Kierkegaard

Take away paradox from the thinker and you have a professor.

Discovering the context

Professors and thinkers often engage in philosophical or complex thoughts involving paradoxes. This quote humorously implies that without those paradoxes, the thinker becomes more like a straightforward professor.

Face the facts of being what you are, for that is ... -Soren Kierkegaard

Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are.

Old age realizes the dreams of youth: look at Dean Swift; in his youth he built an asylum for the insane, in his old age he was himself an inmate.

What is a poet? An unhappy person who conceals profound anguish in his heart but whose lips are so formed that as sighs and cries pass over them they sound like beautiful music.

Soren Kierkegaard Quotes

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