Quotes from Soren Kierkegaard

Raskain rangaistus on nimenomaan muisto.

Naisissa tapaa usein huumoria, mutta ei koskaan ironiaa. Puhdas naisellinen luonto pitää ironiaa jonkinlaisena julmuutena.

A person in sorrow or distress knows why he sorrows or is distressed. If you ask a melancholic what reason he has for his condition, what it is that weighs him down, he will replay, 'I don't know, what it is, I cannot explain it.' (pp499)

It takes a talent to doubt, it requires no talent at all to despair (pp515)

Tyhmät ja touhukkaat ihmiset kuvittelevat, että he toimivat ja toimivat ja toimivat. Sen sijaan käy suorastaan tietynlaisten älypäiden tunnusmerkistä se taituruus, jota osoittaen he välttävät toimimisen.

Only in much fear and trembling is a human being able to speak with God, in much fear and trembling

Het is allemaal waar wat de filosofie zegt: het leven moet achterwaarts worden begrepen. Maar dan vergeet men de tweede zin: dat het voorwaarts moet worden geleefd.

El prójimo es la completamente incognoscible diversidad entre ser humano y ser humano, o bien es la eterna igualdad ante Dios.

For with his little secret that he cannot divulge, the poet buys this power of the word to tell everybody else's dark secrets. A poet is not an apostle; he drives out devils only by the power of the devil.

Het is beslist waar, zoals de filosofen zeggen, dat het leven naar achteren moet worden begrepen. Maar ze vergeten de andere kwestie, dat het leven naar voren moet worden geleefd." Origineel in het Deens: "Det er ganske sandt, hvad Philosophien siger, at Livet maa forstaaes baglaends. Men derover glemmer man den anden Saetning, at det maa leves forlaends.

to him who has the ring, the spirit of the ring is obedient, whether he be Noureddin or Aladdin, and he who has the world's treasure, has it, however he got it.

Wat voor goed zou het me doen als de waarheid voor me stond, koud en naakt, en er niet om gaf of ze door mij werd herkend of niet.

Christianity is related to a kingdom which is not of this world – and then the State receives an oath from teachers of Christianity, which oath signifies therefore that the man swears loyalty precisely to that which is the opposite to the State. Such an oath is a self-contradiction, like making a man swear by laying his hand upon the New Testament, where it is written, Thou shalt not swear.

As soon as the single individual asserts himself in his singularity before the universal, he sins; and only by acknowledging this can he be reconciled again with the universal

Umorul are un scepticism mult mai profund decât ironia, fiindc? în sfera lui accentul cade asupra p?catului, nu asupra finitudinii. Nu-ÅŸi g?seÅŸte liniÅŸtea doar f?cându-l pe om s? fie om, ci f?cându-l pe om s? fie Dumnezeu-om.

Indivizii nu erau altceva pentru el decât niÅŸte stimulente;ÅŸi îndat? ce acÅ£iunea provocat? de ei se consuma,el se debarasa de aceÅŸtia.

My life achievement amounts to nothing at all, a mood, a single color

For a Christianity preached by royal functionaries who are paid and made secure by the State and employ the police against other people, such a Christianity has the same relation to the Christianity of the New Testament as swimming with a cork float or with a bladder has to swimming, that is to say, it is play.

For when an old man relives his life, he lives it only by dwelling upon his memories; and when wisdom in an old man has outgrown the immediate impressions of life, the past viewed from the quiet of memory is something different from the present in all its bustle. The time of work and of strain, of merrymaking and of dancing is over. Life requires nothing more of the old man and he claims nothing more of it. By

El hombre es una síntesis de lo infinito y lo finito, de lo temporal y lo eterno, de libertad y necesidad; en resumen: es una síntesis. Una síntesis es una relación entre dos factores. Considerado desde este ángulo el hombre todavía no es un yo.»

For if one makes faith everything, that is, makes it what it is, then, according to my way of thinking, one may speak of it without danger in our age, which hardly extravagates in the matter of faith, and it is only by faith one attains likeness to Abraham, not by murder. If one makes love a transitory mood, a voluptuous emotion in a man, then one only lays pitfalls for the weak when one would talk about the exploits of love.

He fears all worldly setback for there is nothing eternal in him.

Neither can one who wills the Good do so out of fear of punishment. In essence, this is the same thing as willing the Good for the sake of a reward.

order that you shall act according to it, not that you gain expertise in interpreting it.