I was reading Soren Kierkegaard last night. He is a brilliant man. He lived in Denmark which makes being brilliant even more rare. Here are some of his best quotes:
- Be that self which one truly is.
- The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.
- At the bottom of enmity between strangers lies indifference.
- Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
- Never cease loving a person, and never give up hope for him, for even the prodigal son who had fallen most low, could still be saved; the bitterest enemy and also he who was your friend could again be your friend; love that has grown cold can kindle.
- Do you not know that there comes a midnight hour when every one has to throw off his mask? Do you believe that life will always let itself be mocked? Do you think you can slip away a little before midnight in order to avoid this? Or are you not terrified by it? I have seen men in real life who so long deceived others that at last their true nature could not reveal itself;... In every man there is something which to a certain degree prevents him from becoming perfectly transparent to himself; and this may be the case in so high a degree, he may be so inexplicably woven into relationships of life which extend far beyond himself that he almost cannot reveal himself. But he who cannot reveal himself cannot love, and he who cannot love is the most unhappy man of all.
- There is nothing with which every man is so afraid as getting to know how enormously much he is capable of doing and becoming.
- Far from idleness being the root of all evil, it is rather the only true good.
- To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.
- Once you label me, you negate me.
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