Faith is the highest passion in a human being. Many in every generation may not come that far, but none comes further.
Soren KierkegaardRead
Job endured everything - until his friends came to comfort him, then he grew impatient.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on how Job's suffering was exacerbated by his friends' attempts to comfort him, highlighting the complexity of human relationships during hardship.
In this quote, Soren Kierkegaard illustrates the paradox of friendship in times of suffering through the biblical figure Job. While Job endured immense personal suffering, it was the well-meaning but ultimately frustrating attempts of his friends to provide comfort that pushed him to impatience, suggesting that sometimes, the support from others can feel more burdensome than the struggles we face alone.
Themes
SufferingFriendshipComfortPatienceRelationships
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nature of support during tough times.
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All quotes βMen think that it is impossible for a human being to love his enemies, for enemies are hardly able to endure the sight of one another. Well, then, shut your eyes--and your enemy looks just like your neighbor.
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And when the hourglass has run out, the hourglass of temporality, when the noise of secular life has grown silent and its restless or ineffectual activism has come to an end, when everything around you is still, as it is in eternity, then eternity asks you and every individual in these millions and millions about only one thing: whether you have lived in despair or not.
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I am so stupid that I cannot understand philosophy; the antithesis of this is that philosophy is so clever that it cannot comprehend my stupidity. These antitheses are mediated in a higher unity; in our common stupidity.
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