Soren Kierkegaard Quotes

Soren Kierkegaard Quotes

Søren Kierkegaard, a nineteenth-century Danish logician, scholar, and writer, is much of the time viewed as the dad of existentialism. His works dug profoundly into the idea of human life, confidence, and distinction, significantly impacting both ways of thinking and religious philosophy. Kierkegaard investigated subjects like tension, despair, and the idea of the “act of pure trust,” underlining the significance of individual decision and responsibility despite life’s vulnerabilities.

His compositions frequently tested customary strict and cultural standards, supporting an emotional, internal relationship with God and a day-to-day existence lived legitimately. Known for his complex and now and again dumbfounding style, Kierkegaard’s experiences keep on reverberating with present-day perusers, motivating existentialist scholars like Jean-Paul Sartre and Friedrich Nietzsche. Through his provocative statements, Kierkegaard welcomes us to face the intricacies of presence, encouraging us to see importance and reason in a world that frequently appears to be uninterested or turbulent.

Life and Existence

Kierkegaard saw life as a profoundly private excursion loaded with strain, decisions, and difficulties. His popular assertion, “Life must be seen in reverse, yet it should be lived advances,” epitomizes his conviction that we can genuinely appreciate the importance of our lives looking back. Yet, we are compelled to keep living with a questionable future.

For Kierkegaard, life is a progression of conundrums and choices that can’t be wholly perceived at the time but should be capable of and reflected upon after some time. His existential way of thinking accentuates the significance of the person’s inner experience and individual reflection, which he considers essential for grappling with the crucial inquiries of presence.

Existence and Individualism

  • “The most common form of despair is not being who you are.”
  • “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
  • “Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.”
  • “Subjectivity is truth.”
  • “To be a human being is to be a self. And the self is the synthesis of the finite and the infinite, of the temporal and the eternal, of freedom and necessity.”
  • “People demand freedom of speech as compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.”

Faith and Religion

  • “Faith is the highest passion in a person. It is a paradox, a mystery.”
  • “The greatest hazard of all, is to lose one’s self.”
  • “The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”
  • “The paradox of the Christian faith is that it is based on something that is beyond human understanding.”
  • “If you want to be a Christian, you must first become a human being.”
  • “Christianity does not come to make life easier, but to make it harder. It comes to make us choose.”
  • “The believer is the one who can live in the tension between the finite and the infinite.”

Anxiety and Despair

  • “Despair is the sickness unto death.”
  • “Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.”
  • “What is a man if not his despair?”
  • “Despair is the result of the fact that a man is not what he is in his deepest being.”
  • “The most terrible thing is to be in despair and not know it.”
  • “Despair is the result of a life lived without a deep understanding of one’s self.”
  • “The greatest despair is to be without hope.”

Love and Relationships

  • “Marry, and you will regret it; don’t marry, you will also regret it; marry or don’t marry, you will regret both.”
  • “Love is the expression of the will to live.”
  • “The more a person is afraid of love, the more he is likely to be consumed by it.”
  • “Love is the paradox that requires a person to be both fully himself and fully united with another.”
  • “The individual who loves is always on the edge of despair because love is a choice that is always open to rejection.”

Ethics and Responsibility

  • “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”
  • “The ethical is the sphere of choice, where the individual must make decisions that are true to his or her inner self.”
  • “The individual is responsible for his or her own choices, and this responsibility is not to be delegated to society, the state, or anyone else.”
  • “The ethical person is the one who chooses to live authentically, in accordance with his or her deepest beliefs.”
  • “It is not enough to choose what is good; one must also choose to be good.”

Truth and Knowledge

  • “Truth is not something that can be discovered through reason alone, but is found in the paradoxes of existence.”
  • “The truth is a paradox, and only the paradox can reveal the truth.”
  • “The most profound truths are the ones that cannot be expressed directly but must be experienced.”
  • “Truth is not something that can be understood with the intellect alone; it must be lived.”
  • “The truth is not something that is found by looking outward, but by turning inward.”

The Self and Personal Identity

  • “The self is a relation that relates itself to itself.”
  • “To be a human being is to be a self, and the self is the synthesis of the finite and the infinite.”
  • “The self is a process, not a static thing.”
  • “The self is not a thing to be possessed, but a process to be lived.”
  • “The self is always in motion, always becoming, never finished.”

Freedom and Choice

  • “Freedom is the highest good, but it is also the greatest responsibility.”
  • “Freedom is the possibility of choosing, but it is also the possibility of choosing wrongly.”
  • “Freedom is the possibility of becoming what one is meant to be.”
  • “Freedom is not the absence of constraints, but the ability to choose within them.”
  • “True freedom is the freedom to choose one’s destiny.”

Suffering and the Human Condition

  • “Suffering is the price we pay for being human.”
  • “The human condition is one of constant tension, between what we are and what we could be.”
  • “Suffering is not something to be avoided, but something to be embraced as part of the human experience.”
  • “To be human is to suffer, but it is also to transcend suffering through faith and hope.”
  • “The greatest suffering is not physical pain, but the pain of not knowing who we are.”

On Irony and Humor

  • “Irony is the form of humor that arises from the tension between what is and what could be.”
  • “Humor is the ability to see the absurdity of existence and still find meaning in it.”
  • “Irony is the recognition that the world is not as it seems, but that it is still worth engaging with.”
  • “Humor is the ability to laugh at oneself, to see the contradictions within oneself and still find peace.”
  • “Irony is the recognition that the world is full of contradictions, but that we must still live in it.”

Existence and Meaning

  • “The meaning of life is not something that can be found, but something that must be created.”
  • “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived.”
  • “The meaning of life is found in the tension between what is and what could be.”
  • “Existence is not something that can be understood, but something that must be lived with passion and commitment.”
  • “The meaning of life is not found in the answers, but in the questions.”

Freedom and Choice

Kierkegaard’s work revolves around the idea of individual opportunity and the nervousness that goes with it. In his well-known expression, “Nervousness is the dazedness of opportunity,” Kierkegaard portrays the agitating sensation of being confronted with vast decisions, everyone pulling its fair share of probability and result. This opportunity can be overpowering, and it is through exploring this uneasiness that people come to grasp the profundity of their reality.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Kierkegaard’s view on tension?

Kierkegaard accepted that uneasiness is a principal part of human life. He portrayed it as the “wooziness of opportunity,” where people face the staggering chance of deciding and the heaviness of their opportunity.

What did Kierkegaard mean by “the act of pure trust”?

Kierkegaard’s “act of pure trust” alludes to the demonstration of focusing on confidence in God or a higher reason, regardless of vulnerability or the absence of experimental proof. A decision rises above sanity and is established in private conviction.

How did Kierkegaard characterize despair?

Kierkegaard saw despair as a condition separated from one’s actual self or God. He accepted that gloom emerges when people neglect to adjust their lives to their more profound reason.

What is the meaning of the “single person” in Kierkegaard’s way of thinking?

Kierkegaard accentuated the significance of the “single person” in forming their reality. He contended that moral obligation and genuineness are vital to living a significant life.

What did Kierkegaard say regarding confidence?

Kierkegaard accepted that confidence is definitely not an uninvolved state but a functioning decision. He contended that genuine confidence requires embracing vulnerability and confiding in God, in any event, when reason can’t give replies.

How did Kierkegaard see the connection between reason and confidence?

Kierkegaard viewed confidence as rising above reason. While reason can make sense of the world, confidence is an individual’s emotional obligation to a higher truth, frequently disobeying normal comprehension.

What did Kierkegaard mean by “subjectivity is truth”?

Kierkegaard contended that reality isn’t goal or general yet abstract, reliant upon individual experience and responsibility. As far as he might be concerned, personal enthusiasm and decision-making are the pith of truth.

What is Kierkegaard’s study of society?

Kierkegaard reprimanded society for its congruity and shallow quest for satisfaction. He accepted that genuine satisfaction comes from internal reflection and responsibility, not outer approval or cultural standards.

How did Kierkegaard impact existentialism?

Kierkegaard’s investigation of individual presence, uneasiness, and the requirement for individual decision established the groundwork for existentialist masterminds like Jean-Paul Sartre and Friedrich Nietzsche.

What is the meaning of Kierkegaard’s idea of “the real knight”?

The “knight of confidence” is an ideal figure in Kierkegaard’s work, somebody who takes the jump of confidence and lives really entirely confiding in God in spite of the idiocy of presence. This figure addresses incredibly profound responsibility and individual fortitude.

Conclusion

Søren Kierkegaard’s statements offer significant bits of knowledge into the intricacies of human life, confidence, and individual decision. He underscored the significance of independence, encouraging individuals to live genuinely and stand up to life’s vulnerabilities with boldness. Kierkegaard’s appearance on uneasiness, despair, and the “act of pure trust” challenges us to perceive the pressure among reason and conviction, empowering us to embrace confidence as an individual, emotional responsibility. His work stays powerful in an existential way of thinking, rousing masterminds to address cultural standards and look for more profound significance throughout everyday life. Finally, Kierkegaard’s statements advise us that the way to self-understand and otherworldly satisfaction is a profoundly private excursion formed by our decisions, convictions, and readiness to face the unexplored world.

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