We can come to look upon the deaths of our enemies with as much regret as we feel for those of our friends, namely, when we miss their existence as witnesses to our success.
Arthur SchopenhauerRead
There is no doubt that life is given us, not to be enjoyed, but to be overcome; to be got over.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life is meant to be challenged and conquered rather than merely enjoyed.
Arthur Schopenhauer suggests that the purpose of life is not simply to seek enjoyment, but rather to face and overcome the challenges that come our way. This perspective emphasizes resilience and the importance of struggle, implying that personal growth and fulfillment stem from navigating difficulties instead of pursuing mere pleasure.
Themes
LifeOvercomingChallengesStruggleGrowth
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about resilience in the face of adversity.
More from Arthur Schopenhauer
All quotes βTo be shocked at how deeply rejection hurts is to ignore what acceptance involves. We must never allow our suffering to be compounded by suggestions that there is something odd in suffering so deeply. There would be something amiss if we didn't.
Arthur SchopenhauerRead
Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people.
Arthur SchopenhauerRead
Life is full of troubles and vexations, that one must either rise above it by means of corrected thoughts, or leave it.
Arthur SchopenhauerRead
Our religions will never at any time take root; the ancient wisdom of the human race will not be supplanted by the events in Galilee. On the contrary, Indian wisdom flows back to Europe, and will produce a fundamental change in our knowledge and thought.
Arthur SchopenhauerRead
We will gradually become indifferent to what goes on in the minds of other people when we acquire a knowledge of the superficial nature of their thoughts, the narrowness of their views and of the number of their errors. Whoever attaches a lot of value to the opinions of others pays them too much honor.
Arthur SchopenhauerRead
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The man who kills a man kills a man. The man who kills himself kills all men. As far as he is concerned, he wipes out the world.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support. If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them sitting upon another man's shoulders.
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The truth is always an abyss. One must β as in a swimming pool β dare to dive from the quivering springboard of trivial everyday experience and sink into the depths, in order to later rise again β laughing and fighting for breath β to the now doubly illuminated surface of things.
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I cannot find language of sufficient energy to convey my sense of the sacredness of private integrity.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
Not as common bread or as common drink do we receive these.....We have been taught that the food that has been Eucharistized by the word of prayer, that food which by assimilation nourishes our flesh and blood, is the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus.
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Some people, and I am one of them, hate happy ends. We feel cheated. Harm is the norm.
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