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
The greatest achievements of the human mind are generally received with distrust.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People often question and doubt the accomplishments of genius and innovation.
This quote reflects the tendency of society to be skeptical of groundbreaking ideas and achievements. It highlights how the greatest accomplishments, often born from deep thought and creativity, can face disbelief or skepticism from others, indicating a general distrust of what is new or outside the norm. Schopenhauer implies that this distrust is a barrier that innovators must face when attempting to share their insights with the world.
Themes
AchievementSkepticismInnovationTrustIdeas
In practice
Example use cases
In a keynote speech on innovation, you might use this quote to emphasize the challenges faced by inventors.
More from Arthur Schopenhauer
All quotes →To 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.
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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.
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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Crises and deadlocks when they occur have at least this advantage, that they force us to think.
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It is astonishing that so simple a truth should ever have had an adversary; and it is one among a multitude of proofs, how apt a spirit of ill-informed jealousy, or of too great abstraction and refinement is to lead men astray from the plainest paths of reason and conviction.
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Gentlemen don't read each other's mail.
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