Quotes from Soren Kierkegaard

Numbers are the most dangerous of all illusions

I will say that this is an adventure that every human being must go through – to learn to be anxious…Whoever has learned to be anxious in the right way has learned the ultimate.

AÅŸa cum filozofia începe cu îndoiala, o via?? care s? poat? fi numit? uman? începe cu ironia.

How then did Abraham exist? He believed. This is the paradox which keeps him upon the sheer edge and which he cannot make clear to any other person, for the paradox is that he as the individual puts himself in an absolute relation to the Absolute.

Wiederholung und Erinnerung sind die gleiche Bewegung, nur in entgegengesetzter Richtung; denn dasjenige, woran man sich erinnert, ist gewesen, wird rückwärts wiederholt, während die eigentliche Wiederholung eine Erinnerung in vorwärtiger Richtung ist.

Remember, one lives only once; if it is neglected, if you do not come to suffer, if you avoid it—it is eternally irreparable

Once you have ventured the decisive act, you are at odds with the life of this world. You come into collision with it, and because of this you will gradually be brought into such tension that you will then be able to become certain of what Christ taught. You will begin to understand that you cannot endure this world without having recourse to Christ. What else can one expect from following the truth?

Cuando una muchacha no despierta en nosotros desde la primera mirada una impresión tan viva que cree una imagen ideal de sí misma, generalmente no es digna de que nos tomemos el trabajo de buscarla en la realidad. Pero si despierta en nosotros esa imagen, pese a nuestra experiencia, nos sentimos dominados y vencidos por una desconocida fuerza.

it is not worth while to remember that past which cannot become a present.

Historiallisissa kysymyksissä suurinkin mahdollinen varmuus on vain likiarvo.

To despair over oneself, in despair to will to be rid of oneself—this is the formula for all despair.

Livet forstås baglæns, men må leves forlæns.

Järjestelmään liittyy sulkeutuvuus, mutta olemassaolo on jotakin täsmälleen päinvastaista.

The truth is: to become a Christian is to become, humanly speaking, unhappy for this life; the proportion is: the more you involve yourself with God and the more he loves you, the more you will become, humanly speaking, unhappy for this life, the more you will come to suffer in this life

I feel as a chessman must when the opponent says of it: that piece cannot be moved.

Historiassa kaikki ymmärretään jälkikäteen ja sen vuoksi unohdetaan, että kuolleet kerran elivät.

That instant he dies – for one who does not understand that the whole power of the spirit is required for dying, and that the hero always dies before he dies, that man will not get so very far with his conception of life.

Vain mustalaisilla ja rosvoilla ja huijareilla on tunnuslauseenaan, että sinne, missä kerran on käyty, ei pidä koskaan tulla toista kertaa.

Der Freiheit Inhalt, intellektuell gesehen, ist Wahrheit, und die Wahrheit macht den Menschen frei. Eben darum aber ist die Wahrheit ein Werk der Freiheit dergestalt, dass sie fort und fort die Wahrheit erzeugt.

Imitation, which corresponds to Christ as prototype, must be advanced, be affirmed, be called to our attention

Jos en tiedä omasta takaa, en tiedä lainkaan.

Ei ajattelu ole yhtään sen arvokkaampaa kuin mielikuvitus tai tunne, vaan niihin rinnastettavaa. Ajattelun ylivalta johtaa harhaan.

When you read God's Word, in everything you read, continually to say to yourself: It is I to whom it is speaking, it is I about whom it is speaking—this is earnestness, precisely this is earnestness

Intohimo ei merkitse sanoja.