Arthur Schopenhauer

“Politeness is to human nature what warmth is to wax.”

“Reading is merely a surrogate for thinking for yourself; it means letting someone else direct your thoughts.”

“A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.”

“Life is a business that does not cover the costs.”

“The cheapest sort of pride is national pride.”

“The safest way of not being very miserable is not to expect to be very happy.”

“Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.”

“Compassion is the basis of morality.”

“The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom.”

“Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame.”

“To live alone is the fate of all great souls.”

“Every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized. In the first, it is ridiculed. In the second, it is violently opposed. In the third, it is accepted as self-evident.”

“Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things.”

“Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.”

“It is a clear gain to sacrifice pleasure in order to avoid pain.”

“Life swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom.”

“A high degree of intellect tends to make a man unsocial.”

“The person who writes for fools is always sure of a large audience.”

“The world is my representation.”

“We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people.”