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“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
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“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”
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“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.”
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“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.”
― The Concept of Anxiety: A Simple Psychologically Orienting Deliberation on the Dogmatic Issue of Hereditary Sin
― The Concept of Anxiety: A Simple Psychologically Orienting Deliberation on the Dogmatic Issue of Hereditary Sin
“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”
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“People understand me so poorly that they don't even understand my complaint about them not understanding me.”
― The Journals of Kierkegaard
― The Journals of Kierkegaard
“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”
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“The most common form of despair is not being who you are.”
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“Marry, and you will regret it; don’t marry, you will also regret it; marry or don’t marry, you will regret it either way. Laugh at the world’s foolishness, you will regret it; weep over it, you will regret that too; laugh at the world’s foolishness or weep over it, you will regret both. Believe a woman, you will regret it; believe her not, you will also regret it… Hang yourself, you will regret it; do not hang yourself, and you will regret that too; hang yourself or don’t hang yourself, you’ll regret it either way; whether you hang yourself or do not hang yourself, you will regret both. This, gentlemen, is the essence of all philosophy.”
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“The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss - an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. - is sure to be noticed.”
― The Sickness Unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition for Upbuilding and Awakening
― The Sickness Unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition for Upbuilding and Awakening
“It is perfectly true, as philosophers say, that life must be understood backwards. But they forget the other proposition, that it must be lived forwards.”
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“I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations — one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it — you will regret both.”
― Either/Or: A Fragment of Life
― Either/Or: A Fragment of Life
“The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you'll never have.”
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“What labels me, negates me.”
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“The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly.”
― Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard
― Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard
“In addition to my other numerous acquaintances, I have one more intimate confidant… My depression is the most faithful mistress I have known — no wonder, then, that I return the love.”
― Either/Or: A Fragment of Life
― Either/Or: A Fragment of Life
“What is a poet? An unhappy man who hides deep anguish in his heart, but whose lips are so formed that when the sigh and cry pass through them, it sounds like lovely music.... And people flock around the poet and say: 'Sing again soon' - that is, 'May new sufferings torment your soul but your lips be fashioned as before, for the cry would only frighten us, but the music, that is blissful.”
― Either - Or
― Either - Or
“A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to warn the public; they thought it was a joke and applauded. He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater. I think that's just how the world will come to an end: to general applause from wits who believe it's a joke.”
― Either/Or, Part I
― Either/Or, Part I
“Love is the expression of the one who loves, not of the one who is loved. Those who think they can love only the people they prefer do not love at all. Love discovers truths about individuals that others cannot see”
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“What if everything in the world were a misunderstanding, what if laughter were really tears?”
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“To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.”
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“If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!”
― Either/Or: A Fragment of Life
― Either/Or: A Fragment of Life
“Once you label me you negate me.”
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“The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins.”
― The Journals of Kierkegaard
― The Journals of Kierkegaard
“To venture causes anxiety, but not to venture is to lose one's self.... And to venture in the highest is precisely to be conscious of one's self.”
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“Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are.”
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“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Everyday, I walk myself into a state of well-being & walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, & the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill. Thus if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right.”
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“God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners.”
― The Journals of Kierkegaard
― The Journals of Kierkegaard
“If anyone on the verge of action should judge himself according to the outcome, he would never begin.”
― Fear and Trembling
― Fear and Trembling
“To cheat oneself out of love is the most terrible deception; it is an eternal loss for which there is no reparation, either in time or in eternity.”
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