Søren Kierkegaard Quotes…
Søren Kierkegaard (Søren Aabye Kierkegaard) was a prolific 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian. Kierkegaard strongly criticised both the Hegelianism of his time and what he saw as the empty formalities of the Church of Denmark. Much of his work deals with religious themes such as faith in God, the institution of the Christian Church, Christian ethics and theology, and the emotions and feelings of individuals when faced with life choices. His early work was written under various pseudonyms who present their own distinctive viewpoints in a complex dialogue.
Crossing the boundaries of philosophy, theology, psychology, and literature, he is an influential figure in contemporary thought
Søren Kierkegaard Quotes
“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.”
“The most common form of despair is not being who you are.”
“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
“The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins.”
The question is not “To be or not to be,” it is what we should be until we are not.
People settle for a level of despair they can tolerate and call it happiness.
The best news the World has ever heard came from a graveyard – Christ is risen!
“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”
“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”
“People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.”
“People understand me so poorly that they don’t even understand my complaint about them not understanding me.”
The more people who believe something, the more apt it is to be wrong. The person who’s right often has to stand alone.
The minority is always stronger than the majority, because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion.
“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.”
I found I had less and less to say, until finally, I became silent, and began to listen. I discovered in the silence, the voice of God
It is better to try something and fail than to try nothing and succeed. The result may be the same, but you won’t be. We always grow more through defeats than victories.
“In addition to my other numerous acquaintances, I have one more intimate confidant… My depression is the most faithful mistress I have known — no wonder, then, that I return the love.”
“The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly.”
“A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to warn the public; they thought it was a joke and applauded. He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater. I think that’s just how the world will come to an end: to general applause from wits who believe it’s a joke.”
“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Everyday, I walk myself into a state of well-being & walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, & the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill. Thus if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right.”
“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…. And people flock around the poet and say: ‘Sing again soon’ – that is, ‘May new sufferings torment your soul but your lips be fashioned as before, for the cry would only frighten us, but the music, that is blissful.”
And this is the simple truth – that to live is to feel oneself lost. He who accepts it has already begun to find himself, to be on firm ground. Instinctively, as do the shipwrecked, he will look around for something to which to cling, and that tragic, ruthless glance, absolutely sincere, because it is a question of his salvation, will cause him to bring order into the chaos of his life. These are the only genuine ideas; the ideas of the shipwrecked. All the rest is rhetoric, posturing, farce.
