Quotes from Soren Kierkegaard

sólo las naturalezas inferiores encuentran en otro la justificación de sus actos, sólo las naturalezas inferiores encuentran las premisas de sus actos fuera de sí mismas.

Quise mantener mi sufrimiento oculto para entonces embellecer la vida a los demás.

The possibility of this sickness is man's superiority over the animal, and this superiority distinguishes him in quite another way than does his erect walk, for it indicates infinite erectness or sublimity, that he is spirit.8 The possibility of this sickness is man's superiority over the animal; to be aware of this sickness is the Christian's superiority over the natural man; to be cured of this sickness is the Christian's

No habría sido mejor intentar mantenerse en la fe, y, una vez instalados en ella, estar alerta para no caer? Pues el movimiento de la fe se debe hacer constantemente en virtud del absurdo, aunque poniendo un cuidado extremo en no perder la finitud, sino, al contrario, recuperarla íntegramente.

I divide my time as follows: half the time I sleep, the other half I dream. I never dream when I sleep, for that would be a pity, for sleeping is the highest accomplishment of genius

El significado de esta existencia es que debemos ser examinados, ser examinados para la eternidad.

For it is not what happens to me that makes me great, but what I do, and there is surely no one who thinks that anyone became great by winning the big lottery prize.

Qué es entonces la cultura? Yo siempre la he considerado como el camino que ha de recorrer un individuo para llegar al conocimiento de sí mismo; y muy poco le servirá a quien no quiera emprender ese itinerario el haber nacido en la más ilustrada de las épocas.

Sócrates tiene razón: cuando un hombre no hace lo correcto, es porque no lo entiende. Si lo entendiera, lo haría: por tanto, el pecado es ignorancia. El cristianismo tiene razón: el pecado es culpa. Porque cuando un hombre no hace lo correcto, es muy cierto que es porque no lo entiende, pues si lo entendiera… etc. Pero la razón por la que no entiende lo correcto es que no puede entenderlo, y no puede entenderlo porque no desea entenderlo. Y este es el punto.

And isn't it true here too that those whom God blesses he damns in the same breath?

It is an infinite merit to be able to despair.

Happy my lot in life if my desire coincides with my duty, and conversely; and most people's task in life is exactly to stay under their obligation, and by their enthusiasm to transform it into their wish.

this whole thing about Christendom and a Christian world is a knavish trick on man's part, the notion that we really are Christians is a vain conceit by force of the knavish trick; on the other hand, the New Testament, entirely unchanged, is the guidebook for Christians, for whom things will go in this world as one reads in the New Testament, and who should not let themselves be disturbed by the fact that for knavish Christians things go differently in this world, a knavish world.

The despairing man who is unconscious of being in despair is, in comparison with him who is conscious of it, merely a negative step further from the truth and from salvation.

La resignación infinita es el último estadio que precede a la fe, de modo que quien no haya realizado ese movimiento no alcanzará la fe. Sólo en la resignación infinita me descubro en mi valor eterno: sólo entonces, en virtud de la fe, podré tratar de hacerme con la existencia de este mundo.

There was one who was great by reason of his power, and one who was great by reason of his wisdom, and one who was great by reason of his hope, and one who was great by reason of his love; but Abraham was greater than all, great by reason of his power whose strength is impotence, great by reason of his wisdom whose secret is foolishness, great by reason of his hope whose form is madness, great by reason of the love which is hatred of oneself.

El caballero de la fe tiene una clara conciencia de la imposibilidad; por lo tanto, sólo le puede salvar el absurdo, y lo aprehende por medio de la fe.

existing cannot be done without passion.

Infinite humiliation and grace, and then a striving born of gratitude — this is Christianity.

To be clear in my mind what I am to do, not what I am to know, except in so far as a certain understanding must precede every action. The thing is to understand myself…the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die.

The highest of all is not to understand the highest but to act upon it.

we must be honest, and not interpret this lack of courage as humility, since it is really pride, whereas the courage of faith is the only humble courage.

He writes because for him it is a luxury which becomes the more agreeable and more evident, the fewer there are who buy and read what he writes.

Hace falta un valor puramente humano para renunciar a la temporalidad en todas sus manifestaciones, y así obtener la eternidad, pero una vez conseguida no puedo renunciar a ella, ya que sería una contradicción. Pero se requiere un valor humilde y paradójico para hacerse, a continuación, con la temporalidad en virtud del absurdo; ese valor es el de la fe.