15 Arthur Schopenhauer Quotes about Life

Written by Justin Mitchell

Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher (1788-1860) characterized by his philosophical pessimism and atheism. His objectivity pierces the veil of the seemingly innate theological proclivity of the human mind. Ultimately he comes to the conclusion that compassion is the highest human value, and that asceticism is the peak moral aim of an individual. Although Schopenhauer is a pessimistic philosopher, his philosophy can be incredibly comforting because it does not spin up vast, optimistic illusions about human suffering and purpose. He simply serves it up as it is.


"There is no doubt that life is given us, not to be enjoyed, but to be overcome; to be got over." - Arthur Schopenhauer


Life always entails some level of suffering. Our purpose is not to avoid this suffering, but to overcome it. 

It is not meant to be easy. We are not meant to be happy all the time. We are meant to suffer, and the more we try to escape this fact will only contribute to our suffering.


"We forfeit three-quarters of ourselves in order to be like other people." - Arthur Schopenhauer


The people-pleasing aspect of the human condition may naturally seek to be more like other people. It wants to fit in. It wants to be a certain shape that resembles those close to us.

In doing this, we effectively kill off a large part of what's uniquely us. We give up on ourselves in pursuit of being more like our friends and our families. 

There's a deep conformist nature in the human psyche since we are a social species, and it will turn us into something we do not even recognize if we let it.


"Every nation ridicules other nations, and all are right." - Arthur Schopenhauer


Every country has its own unique perspective on the world, dyed by their own culture, values, demographics, geography and circumstances. Rather than one nation being right and the other being wrong in their judgements, these are only perspectives.

Perspectivism is the idea that there is not one unified truth, only perspectives. It's the idea that we all have a unique perspective on the world, and it's not necessarily right or wrong. It's just a fact of an individual being, or in this case, a country.

This is true for both countries and individuals. We all have our lens from which we view the world, and whether they are right or wrong, they are facts of our being, and should be treated as such.


"Opinion is like a pendulum and obeys the same law. If it goes past the center of gravity on one side, it must go a like distance on the other; and it is only after a certain time that it finds the true point at which it can remain at rest." - Arthur Schopenhauer


Our own lives often can be interpreted as a swinging pendulum. We go down various paths and embody different behaviors, identities, and opinions, and the driving force behind these phenomena is a natural seeking of balance.

Every extreme has its opposite, and throughout our lives, we may be able to look back and view these pendulum swings in our own behavior. Periods of sadness may lead to a period of happiness. Periods of great motivation may lead to periods of stagnation.

As we mature and get older, the pendulum swings tend to become more consolidated as we have found our true magnetic center. There's not as much fluctuation, and we tend toward the center rather than to extremes. 


"A man's face as a rule says more, and more interesting things, than his mouth, for it is a compendium of everything his mouth will ever say, in that it is the monogram of all this man's thoughts and aspirations." - Arthur Schopenhauer


In modern times, there's a disdain for judging people based on appearances. Schopenhauer thinks that this is faulty logic, and that appearances speak more truth about a person than anything that may ever come out of their mouths.

Although it's not wise to judge people only based on how they look, perhaps there's some wisdom in not rejecting superficial appearances of things. A man's face is a manifestation of something fundamental in his being. 

A sick man tends to look sickly, and a healthy man will tend to look healthy. Good looks are proven to correlate with health, although not on a 1:1 basis. This is an uncomfortable truth worth pondering.

"Patriotism, when it wants to make itself felt in the domain of learning, is a dirty fellow who should be thrown out of doors." - Arthur Schopenhauer


When it comes to learning and pursuing truth, one must be able to detach himself from his place of origin. Culture is inherently dyed with bias, and this bias has no regard for truth.

Placing patriotism above truth will lead to more patriotism and less truth. Only a fool seeks knowledge through the lens of his country as an extension of his identity. 

The world needs patriotism, but it also needs truth. If truth is one's highest aim, then he should leave his patriotism out of the matter.


"Reading is equivalent to thinking with someone else's head instead of with one's own." - Arthur Schopenhauer


Many confuse reading for the appropriation of what was read. Naturally when reading, we are consumed in someone else's way of thinking, rather than our own.

True knowledge is not based on memorizing facts, but on being able to reason about things in your own mind. 

Schopenhauer is not against reading, but he is against passive reading, where we consume and consume, but we do not think about what we have consumed.

 In order to be a free-thinking individual, we must think critically about our experiences, and what we read and consume. Only then may we form our own conclusions, rather than blindly accepting the conclusions of others.


"Nature shows that with the growth of intelligence comes increased capacity for pain, and it is only with the highest degree of intelligence that suffering reaches its supreme point." - Arthur Schopenhauer


This is a paradox of being conscious. The more conscious we are, the more psychic energy we are exposed to, both good and bad. The more conscious a creature is, the more deep its emotions. 

An animal is only aware of a small window of day to day activities, whereas the human mind is aware of an infinitely more complex array of psychic energies, dyed by not only the current moment, but years into our past, and our futures. Our very superpower of being intelligent planners not only allows us to accomplish great things, it also causes us a deep amount of suffering.

Great intelligence is therefore a curse of sorts, rather than being a pure advantage. There are tradeoffs to being more aware of what's going on in both ourselves, and the world. 

Our state of awareness can fluctuate massively, whether that be a state of profound suffering, or euphoric bliss.


"The more unintelligent a man is, the less mysterious existence seems to him." - Arthur Schopenhauer


A general marker of stupidity could be characterized by the lack of curiosity about existence. A person that never takes a step back to analyze and think about the unfathomable questions of life, is a person who does not truly understand how interesting it is that we are a bunch of weird looking apes floating around on a rock in space.

Animals go throughout their days completely living in the moment, not concerned about how they got here, or why. Humans have the unique ability to question these things, and it's a shame when those traits are only spent on the mundane daily activities being a human entails, and not questioning the universe, and how we got here.

"The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom." - Arthur Schopenhauer

Happiness to Schopenhauer is measured by the absence of pain and boredom. When we are completely without pain and boredom, we tend to be engaged in the flow of life. We're not worried about whether we are happy or not. We are completely immersed.

This state of flow can be difficult to achieve, but it's only the absence of these two ailments that we truly feel happy. Therefore, it should be a chief concern of ours for how we should mitigate these ailments. 

In my opinion, this does not entail the avoidance of challenge, but rather the confrontation of it. Sometimes the only way to get rid of a pain in life, is to purposely throw yourself into that pain and solve the problem that it is originating from, rather than completely avoiding it.


"Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people." - Arthur Schopenhauer

If we look back to the general themes of our suffering, what do we find? Generally these sorrows have come from either our family, our friends, our jobs, our relationships, or our position in society. Therefore, it all circles around social dynamics and our place in that mix.

Problems that appear to be something unrelated to other people, are often deeply related. 

For example, if you've ever lost a job and struggled to find a new one for a period of time, why exactly does that cause pain? Is it the loss of the actual job that causes the pain, or the change in your relationship with the world and other people in it?

Sorrows that appear to be for material reasons (ie: jobs, money, achievements) are not actually material sorrows. They are social sorrows. They are related to how we view ourselves, and how we think other people view us. If there were no other humans in the equation, we would not be worried about these things.

Understanding this perspective can help you pierce the superficial veil of your emotions and focus on what truly matters, your relationship with yourself.


"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." - Arthur Schopenhauer


We are not truly ourselves unless we are completely alone. In the midst of other humans, we are influenced by social pressures which compel us to act in ways that we normally do not act when alone.

This influence distorts the authentic energy of our psyche. We present as a mask to others, not our true genuine selves. This mask is not necessarily bad, it's just a fact of human relations.

A wise man finds solace in solitude, for he knows that only there is he truly free. 


"Every possession and every happiness is but lent by chance for an uncertain time, and may therefore be demanded back the next hour." - Arthur Schopenhauer


Everything in life is temporary. The more that we fight against this, the more pain we will experience. 

This view of reality has its roots in Buddhist and Stoic perspectives of reality. It's not necessarily that things are temporary that we are bothered by them, it's our attachment to things. Therefore, we should regularly evaluate everything in our life, and be grateful for it while we have it, but realize that it may no longer be a part of our lives tomorrow. 

This is true of people, of jobs, of relationships, and especially happiness. Nothing is guaranteed forever, and when we act like it is, we only set ourselves up for immense suffering if that thing is eventually gone. 

This perspective serves to cultivate a genuine gratitude for the things and people that are in our lives today, for we truly recognize that they could be gone tomorrow.


"As the biggest library if it is in disorder is not as useful as a small but well-arranged one, so you may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself." - Arthur Schopenhauer"Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame." - Arthur Schopenhauer


Wealth and fame share the common theme of desire. The more desires we have and pursue, the more our mind becomes preoccupied with them. Desire is like an endless pit, and it will go as deep as we let it. 

No amount of money will ever feel like enough, and the same can be said of fame. 

Realize this. You will never be completely satisfied by the fulfillment of your desires, for desire is the natural human condition. Once old desires are fulfilled, they will be replaced by new ones. 

It's the desire that we love, not the objects themselves. In gaining control over our desires, and desiring less, we reach the same place as if we were to fulfill them. 


Schopenhauer is a well of cold-hard truths in an optimistic world of lies. While optimism can be a great motivator, pessimism also has its merits. Oftentimes, optimism is nothing but a comforting lie, whereas pessimism is the uncomfortable truth. In embracing the uncomfortable truth, we find an intellectual honesty that is refreshing, and paradoxically, quite comforting.