Essays And Aphorisms
Arthur Schopenhauer, Cor Bickford-Smith
Schopenhauer believed that human action is determined not by reason but by 'will' - the blind and irrational desire for physical existence. These writings depict individuals struggling in a Godless world, in which art, morality and self-awareness are our only salvation. They are a searing vision of the human condition.
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“Every woman while she would be ready to die of shame if surprised in the act of generation, nonetheless carries her pregnancy without a trace of shame and indeed with a kind of pride. The reason is that pregnancy is in a certain sense a cancellation of the guilt incurred by coitus; thus coitus bears all the shame and disgrace of the affair, while pregnancy, which is so intimately associated with it, stays pure and innocent and is indeed to some extent sacred.”
Essays and Aphorisms • Arthur Schopenhauer
“The art of not reading is a very important one. It consists in not taking an interest in whatever may be engaging the attention of the general public at any particular time. When some political or ecclesiastical pamphlet, or novel, or poem is making a great commotion, you should remember that he who writes for fools always finds a large public. A precondition for reading good books is not reading bad ones: for life is short.””
Essays and Aphorisms • Arthur Schopenhauer