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
Students and scholars of all kinds and of every age aim, as a rule, only at information, not insight. They make it a point of honour to have information about everything, every stone, plant, battle, or experiment and about all books, collectively and individually. It never occurs to them that information is merely a means to insight, but in itself is of little or no value.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes that mere information is not valuable unless it leads to deeper understanding or insight.
Arthur Schopenhauer critiques the typical approach of students and scholars who focus solely on collecting information without striving for true insight. He suggests that while knowledge about various subjects is commendable, it is ultimately ineffective if it does not foster a deeper comprehension and personal understanding of those topics, highlighting the distinction between surface-level knowledge and meaningful understanding.
Themes
InformationInsightEducationKnowledgeUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a classroom discussion about the importance of critical thinking skills.
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.
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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.
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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