Sarah's Most Worshipful
Kierkegaard Page
As I am now out of school and back to work, I have few exciting activities to occupy my spare time. Now, I thought, seemed the time to make good on some promises I made earlier on my home page. What follows is a collection of some of my favorite Kierkegaard aphorisms, parables, stories and general quotations.
(As this is the Kierkegaard page, all the quotations are from Kierkegaard unless otherwise noted)
"It is perfectly true, as the philosophers say, that life must be understood backwards. But they forget the other proposition, that it must be lived forwards. And if one thinks over that proposition it becomes more and more and more evident that life can never really be understood in time simply because at no particular moment can I find the necessary resting place from which to understand it--backwards."
"The majority of men are subjective towards themselves and objective towards all others, terribly objective sometimes--but the real task is in fact to be objective towards oneself and subjective towards all others."
"People hardly ever make use of the freedom which they have, for example, freedom of thought; instead they demand freedom of speech as compensation."
"The present state of the world and the whole of life is diseased. If I were a doctor and were asked for my advice, I should reply, 'Create silence'."
"Fixed ideas are like cramps, for instance in the foot, the best remedy is to step on them"
"I was born in 1813, the wrong fiscal year, in which so many other bad banknotes were put in circulation, and my life seems best compared to one of them. There is something of greatness about me, but because of the poor state of the day, I am not worth much. And at times, a banknote like that became a family's misfortune."
"...he who expected the impossible became greater than all..." from Fear and Trembling
"Man is granted a choice...Man not merely can choose...he must choose...For in such a way God holds himself in honor, while he also has a fatherly concern for men. If God has condescended to be that which can be chosen, then man must choose as God does not let himself be mocked."
"The truth exists only in the process of becoming, in the process of appropriation." from Concluding Unscientific Postscript
"A curiously interested observer sees a great deal, a scientifically interested observer is worthy of all honor, and anxiously interested observer sees what others do not see, but a crazy observer sees perhaps the most, his observation is more intense and more persistent, just as the senses of certain animals are sharper than those of man."
"All philosophizing is a calling to mind"
"It takes moral courage to sorrow, it takes religious courage to be glad"
"If a person has one thought, but an infinite one, he can be borne along by it throughout his entire life, lightly and on wings, just as the Hyperborean, Abonis, transveresed the whole world borne by an arrow [Herodotus III 36]."
from Gulity/Not Guilty?
"I would have perished had I not perished"
"What an individual is capable of may be measured by how far his understanding is from his willing. What a person can understand he must also make himself will. Between understanding and willing lie the excuses and evasions."
"Melancholy is a sin, really it is a sin, instar ominum, for not to will deeply and sincerely is sin, and this is the mother of all sins"
"I have only one friend, and that is my echo. Why is it my friend? Because I love sorrow, and echo does not take it from me. I have one confidant, and that is the silence of night. Why is it my confidant? Because it remains silent."
"...to be a villain can be reprented, not to have meant a word of what one has said can be regretted, but to be frivolous, obviously frivolous, to have meant it all, and see, it was frivolous--even repentence is disgusted with that."
"Anyone who has ever done something stupid is continually afflicted by the consequence."
"All will be acquired in stillness and made divine in silence. It is true not only of Psyche's expected child that its future depended on her silence."
"Sorrow always has in it something more substantial than pain. Pain always indicates a reflection upon the suffering that sorrow does not know."
"By nature, joy wishes to disclose itself; sorrow wishes to conceal itself, indeed, at times even to deceive. Joy is communicative, sociable, open, wishes to express itself. Sorrow is inclosingly reseved, silent, solitary, and seeks to return into itself."
"nil admirari [to marvel at nothing] is the proper wisdom of life"
"being overwhelmed is a curious mixture of sympathy and egotism."
"Ethically it is correct to put the question: "Is it real?" But it is important to note that this holds true only when the individual subject asks this question of himself, and concerning his own reality. He can apprehend the ethical reality of another only by thinking it, and hence as a possibility.
The Scriptures teach: "Judge not that ye be not judged." This is expressed in the form of a warning, an admonition, but it is at the same time an impossibility. One human being cannot judge another ethically, because he cannot understand him except as a possibility. When therefore anyone attempts to judge another, the expression for his impotence is that he merely judges himself."
"It is intelligent to ask two questions: (1) Is it possible? (2) Can I do it? But it is unintelligent to ask these two questions: (1) Is it real? (2) Has my neighbor Christopherson done it? It is fatuous from the aesthetic and the intellectual point of view to raise the question of reality; and the same holds true from the ethical point of view if the question is raised in the interest of contemplation. But when the ethical question is raised in connection with my own reality, I ask about possibility; only that this possibility is not an aesthetically and intellectually disinterested possibility, but as being a convinced reality it is related as a possibility, but as being a conceived reality it is related as a possibility to my own reality, so that I may be able to realize it."
"The sign of childishness is to say: "Me wants, me-me"; the sign of youth is to say: "I"--and "I"--and "I"; the sign of maturity and the introduction to the eternal is the will to understand that this "I" signifies nothing if it does not become the "thou" to whom eternity unceasingly speaks, and says: "Thou shalt, thou shalt thou shalt." The youth wishes to be the only "I" in the whole world; maturity consists in understanding this "thou" for itself, even if it is not said to any other man. Thou shalt, thou shalt love thy neighbor."
"Love is presupposing love; to have love is to resuppose love in others; to be loving is to presuppose that others are loving. Let us understand each other. The characteristics a man may have may either be characteristics he has for himself, even if he makes use of them for others; or attributes for others. Wisdom is one quality inherent in himself; power and talent and knowledge and so on may also be attributes peculiar to himself. To be wise is not to say, not to assume, that others are wise; on the contrary, it may very certainly be true, if the truly wise man assumes that all men are far from wise. Moreover, because 'wise' is an exclusively personal attribute, there is nothing in the thought to prevent one from assuming that there might live, or has lived, a wise man who dared say that he assumed that all other men were unwise. In the thought (of being wise--and assuming that all others are unwise), there is no contradiction. In the realities of life, such an expression would be arrogant, but merely in the thought as such, there is no contradiction. On the other hand, if one were to believe that he himself was loving, but also that all other men were not loving, then we should have to say: "No, stop; there is a contradiction here in the thought itself; for to be loving is just to assume, to presuppose, that other men are loving." Love is not an exclusively personal attribute, but an attribute by virtue of which of which or in which you exist for others.In ordinary convesation we of course say, when we sum up a man's qualities, that he is wise, understanding, loving--and we do not notice what a difference there is between the last attribute and the first. His wisdom, his experience, his understanding are his own, even if others benefit by them; but if he is truly loving, then he does not have love in the same sense as he has wisdom, but it is exactly his love which presupposes that the rest of us have love. You praise him as the lover; you believe love is an attribute he has, as it really is; you feel edified by him just because he is loving but you do not notice that this is because his love indicates that he presupposes love in you, and that just for this reason you are edified, just for this reason the love in yourself is built up."
"In Stoicism we see the combination of prode and cowardice. One remains on the heights of pride as long as possible by always having cowardice as an escape. Pride is therefore like the extravagence of a bankrupt all during the time in which he knows he will declare himself a bankrupt. It is not that pride changes into cowardice on the appearance of suicide; no, pride was all the time bolstered up with the thought of suicide; pride was cowardice."
Marry, adn you will regret it. Do not marry, and you will also regret it. Marry or do not marry, you will regret it either way. Whether you marry or you do not marry, you will regret it either way. Laugh at the stupidities of the world, and you will regret it; weep over them, and you will also regret it. Laugh at the stupidities of the world or weep over them, you will regret it either way. Whether you laugh at the stupidities of the world or you weep over them, you will regret it either way. Trust a girl, and you will regret it. Do not trust her, and you will also regret it. Trust a girl or do not trust her, you will regret it either way. Whether you trust a girl or do not trust her, you will regret it either way. Hang yourself, and you will regret it. Do not hang yourself, and you will also regret it. Hang yourself or do not hang yourself, and you will regret it either way. Whether you hang yourself or do not hang yourself, you will regret it either way. This, gentleman, is the quintessence of all the wisdom of life."
"Quiet Despair" from Stages on Life's Way
"When Swift became an old man he was committed to the insane asylum he himself had established when he was young. Here, it is related, he often stood in front of a mirror with the perserverance of a vain and lascivious woman, if not exactly with her thoughts. He looked at himself and said 'Poor Old Man'.
Once upon a time there were a father and a son. A son is like a mirror in which the father sees himself and for the son in turn the father is like a mirror in which he sees himself in the time to come. Yet they seldom looked at each other in that way, for the cheerfulness of high spirited and lively conversation was their daily round. Only a few times did it happen that the father stopped, faced his son with a sorrowful countenance, looked at him and said 'Poor child, you are in a quiet despair'. Nothing more was said about it, how it was to be understoo, how true it was. And the father believed that he was responsible for his son's depression, and the son believed that it was he who had caused the father's sorroe, but never a word was exchanged about this.
Then the father died. And the son saw much, heard much, experimented much, and was tried in various temptations, but he longed for only one thing, only one thing moved him--it was that word and it was the voice of the father when he said it. Then the son also became an old man, but just as love devises everything, so longing and loss taught him--not of course to wrest any communication from the silence of eternity, but it taught him to imitate his father's voice until the likeness satisfied him. Then he did not look at himself in the mirror, as did the aged Swift, for the mirror was no more, but in loneliness he comforted himself by listening to his father's voice. 'Poor child, you are in a quiet despair". For the father was the only ibe who had understood him; and the father was the only intimate he had; that the intimacy was of such a nature that it remained the same whether the father was alove or dead."
from "Quindam's Diary" in Stages on Life's Way
"Today, a year ago
What is the happiest existence? It is that of a young girl of sixteen years when she, pure and innocent possesses nothing, not a chest of drawers or a pedestal, but has to make use of the lowest drawer of her escritoire to keep all her magnificence: the confirmation dress and a prayer book. Happy is the man who possesses no more than he is content to put in the next drawer.
What existence is the happiest? Is it that of the young girl sixteen summers old, pure and innocent, she sits diligently and yet finds time to glance sideways at him who possesses nothing, not a chest of drawers, not a pedestal, but only a partner in the same wardrobe, and yet has an entirely different explanation for the case, for in her he possesses the whole world, in spite of the fact that she possesses nothing.
And who is the most unhappy? It is that rich young man--twenty-five winters old who dwells opposite.
When one is sixteen summers old and the other sixteen winters old are they not equally old? Ah no! How is that? Is not the same time identical when it is identical? Ah no! The time is not identical.
Ah, why were nine months in my mother's womb enough to make me an old man? Ah, why was I not swaddled in joy? Why was I born not only with pain, but for pain? Why was my eye not opened for happiness but only to behold this realm of sighs and to be unable to break away from it?"
from "A Possibility" in Stages on Life's Way
"Longbridge gets its name from its length for as a bridge it is very long, though as a road the length of the bridge is not very considerable, as one can conceive oneself by crossing it. When one is standing on the other side, in Christianshavn, it seems as though after all the brige must be very long, for it seems as though one were far, very far away from Copenhagen."
"Nebuchadnezzar"
1. Recollections of my life, when I was a beast of the field and did eat grass; I, Nebuchadnezzar, unto all people, nations and languages.
2. Was this not Babylon, the great city, the greatest among the cities of all nations; and I, Nebuchadnessar, had built it.
3. No city was like Babylon in renown, and no king like unto me in Babylon, the honor of my majesty.
4. My kingly house was renowed to the ends of the world, and my wisdom was like a mysterious language, which none among the wise could explain.
5. And none could tell me what it was that I had dreamed.
6. And the word came to me that I should be transformed and become as a beast which eats the grass of the fields, while seven times passed over me.
7. Then I called together all my princes and their hosts, and sent forth word that I must be prepared while seven times went over me.
8. But none dared approach Babylon the Great, and I said, Is not this great Babylon which I, Nebuchadnezzar have built.
9. Suddenly a cry was heard and I was changed, quickly as a woman changes color.
10. Grass became my food, the dew of heaven fell upon me, and no one knew who I was.
11. But I knew Babylon, and cried out, Is this not Babylon, and cried out, Is this not Babylon, and none heard my wods, and non could understand ought but a cry like that of a beast.
12. My thoughts terrified me, the thoughts in my mind, for my mouth was closed, and none could hear ought but a cry like that of a beast.
13. And I thought, Who is this powerful one. The Lord, the Lord, who is like the darkness of the night and like the depths of the sea, unfathomable.
14. Yes, like a dream, which he alone can unravel, the interpretation of which he has not given into the power of any man, when it suddenly comes upon one and holds one with its powerful arms.
15. No one knows where this powerful one liveth, so that one could point and say: behold, there is his throne; so that one could journey through the land until it was said: behold, here are boundaries of his lordship.
16. For he does not dwell on the boundary of my kingdom, as my neighbor, neither does he surround round me on all sides like the sea and the mountains.
17. And neither does he live in his temple, for I, Nebuzhadnezzar have taken his golden and silver vessels, and laid waste his temple.
18. And no one knows anything of him, who was his father and how he received power, or who taught him the secret of his power.
19. And he has no counselor, that one might buy his secret for gold, none to whom one can say, What shall I do; and none who say to him, What art thou doing.
20. He has no spies to watch for the opprotunity, so that one might catch him; for he does not say, Tomorrow; but says, Today.
21. For he makes no preparations, like a man, and his preparations give the enemy no respite, for he says, Let this happen--and it happens.
22. He sits and still considers with himself; one does not know whether he is present before it has happened.
23. This has he done against me. He does not aim like the archer, so that one can fly from his arrow; he speaks with himself and it happens.
24. In his hands the King's brain is like wax in the melting furnace, and its weight like a feather's weight when he weighs it.
25. And yet he does not live upon the earth like the great and powerful, so that he could take Babylon from me and let me retain a little, or so that he could take everything from me and be the powerful one in Babylon.
26. Then did I think to myself in this loneliness of my mind where none knew me, and the thoughts in my mind terrified me, that there was the the Lord.
27. But when the seven ages were run out I became Nebuchadnezzar once more.
28. And I called all the wise men together, that they might explain to me the mystery of that power, and how I had become like a beast of the fields.
29. But one and all, they fell down, upon their faces and said, Great is Nebuchadnezzar! It is imagination, a bad dram, who should be able to do such things against thee.
30. But my anger was upon the wise men in the whole land, and I let them be cut down in their folly.
31. For the Lord, the Lord alone has power, as no man hath it, and I will not envy him his might, but praise it and be near him; for I have taken his gold and silver vessels.
32. Babylon is no more great Babylon, I Nebuchadnezzar, no more Nebuchadnezzar, and my hosts no longer protect me; for none can see the Lord, and none can recognize him.
33. If he should come; and the watchmen would call in vain because I was already become like a bird in the trees, or a fish in the water, known only to other fish.
34.Therefore I will not be renowned in Babylon, but every seventh year there shall be a feast in the land,
35. A great feast for all the people, and it shall be called the Feast of the Transformation.
36. And an astronomer shall be led through the streets and he shall be dressed as an animal, and he shall carry his calculations with him, torn to shreds like a bundle of hay.
37. And the people shall call out: The Lord, the Lord, the Lord is powerful, and his action is as swift as the leap of a great fish in the sea.
38. For soon my days are numbered, and my lorship past like a night watch, and I know not wither I go;
39. Whether I come to the invisible on in the distance, where the powerful one dwells, so that I must find grace in his eyes;
40. Whether it is he who takes the spirit of life from me, so that I become like a cast off garment, like my predecessors; so that he should be pleased with me.
41. This have I, Nebuchadnezzar, made known to all people, nations and tongues; and great Babylon shall do my will."
Can't get enough of Soren? Check out these stylin' Kierkegaard links:
Little Blue Light's Kierkegaard Page A great site featuring bios and info on many greater thinkers.
Bio of Kierkegaard and some selections from his prayers.
In-depth Kierkegaard Bio, with a great chronology and some quotes
A Short Life of Kierkegaard