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
Every possession and every happiness is but lent by chance for an uncertain time, and may therefore be demanded back the next hour.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life's joys and possessions are temporary and can be taken away at any moment.
This quote by Arthur Schopenhauer reflects on the transient nature of our happiness and material possessions. It suggests that everything we hold dear is essentially borrowed from fate and can be withdrawn at any time, urging us to appreciate what we have while recognizing its impermanence.
Themes
ImpermanenceHappinessPossessionsTransienceAppreciation
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech on the value of life experiences.
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.
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Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people.
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Life is full of troubles and vexations, that one must either rise above it by means of corrected thoughts, or leave it.
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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.
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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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When death comes, it's just like winter. We don't say, "There ought not to be winter." That the winter season, when the leaves fall and the snow comes, is some kind of defeat, something which we should hold out against. No. Winter is part of the natural course of events. No winter, no summer. No cold, no heat.
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