The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Delusion2 quotes
Castles in the air-they are so easy to take refuge in. And easy to build, too. — Henrik Ibsen · 1892Take the life-lie away from the average man and straight away you take away his happiness. — Henrik Ibsen · 1884Happiness2 quotes
To crave for happiness in this world is simply to be possessed by a spirit of revolt. What right have we to happiness? — Henrik Ibsen · 1881Take the life-lie away from the average man and straight away you take away his happiness. — Henrik Ibsen · 1884Regret2 quotes
I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations-one can do either this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it-you will regret both. — Soren Kierkegaard · 1843Marry, 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. — Soren Kierkegaard · 1843Anticipation1 quote
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! — Soren Kierkegaard · 1843Anxiety1 quote
Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom. — Soren Kierkegaard · 1844Authenticity1 quote
What ought a man to be? Well, my short answer is "himself." — Henrik Ibsen · 1867Being oneself1 quote
What ought a man to be? Well, my short answer is "himself." — Henrik Ibsen · 1867Character flaws1 quote
Look into any man's heart you please, and you will always find, in every one, at least one black spot which he has to keep concealed. — Henrik Ibsen · 1877Decisions and choices1 quote
I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations-one can do either this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it-you will regret both. — Soren Kierkegaard · 1843Downsides of technology1 quote
Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master. — Christian Louis Lange · 1921Dreams1 quote
Castles in the air-they are so easy to take refuge in. And easy to build, too. — Henrik Ibsen · 1892Faith1 quote
For without risk, no faith; the more risk, the more faith; the more objective dependability, the less inwardness (since inwardness is precisely subjectivity); the less objective dependability, the deeper the possible inwardness. — Soren Kierkegaard · 1846Freedom1 quote
Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom. — Soren Kierkegaard · 1844Giving up1 quote
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. — Soren Kierkegaard · 1849God and man1 quote
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. — Soren Kierkegaard · 1838Idleness1 quote
Idleness as such is by no means a root of evil; on the contrary, it is truly a divine life, if one is not bored. — Soren Kierkegaard · 1843Imagination1 quote
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! — Soren Kierkegaard · 1843Iraq War1 quote
We haven't found any smoking guns. — Hans Blix · 2003Killing time1 quote
Idleness as such is by no means a root of evil; on the contrary, it is truly a divine life, if one is not bored. — Soren Kierkegaard · 1843Leisure1 quote
Idleness as such is by no means a root of evil; on the contrary, it is truly a divine life, if one is not bored. — Soren Kierkegaard · 1843Literature1 quote
Prose is for ideas,
Verse is for visions. — Henrik Ibsen · 1871Losing oneself1 quote
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. — Soren Kierkegaard · 1849Loss1 quote
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. — Soren Kierkegaard · 1849Martyrdom1 quote
The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins. — Soren Kierkegaard · 1848Moral theory1 quote
I hold that man is in the right who is most closely in league with the future. — Henrik Ibsen · 1882Poetry1 quote
Prose is for ideas,
Verse is for visions. — Henrik Ibsen · 1871Poets1 quote
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. — Soren Kierkegaard · 1843Possibility1 quote
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! — Soren Kierkegaard · 1843Progress1 quote
I hold that man is in the right who is most closely in league with the future. — Henrik Ibsen · 1882Race relations1 quote
The treatment of the Negro is America's greatest and most conspicuous scandal. — Gunnar Myrdal · 1944