Arthur Schopenhauer

"A sense of humour is the only divine quality of man"

"Ordinary people merely think how they shall 'spend' their time; a man of talent tries to 'use' it."

"Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think."

"Faith is like love: it does not let itself be forced."

"Compassion is the basis of all morality"

"One should use common words to say uncommon things"

"Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude"

"They tell us that suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice... that suicide is wrong; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person."

"Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think."

"After your death, you will be what you were before your birth."

"Happiness consists in frequent repetition of pleasure"

"How very paltry and limited the normal human intellect is, and how little lucidity there is in the human consciousness, may be judged from the fact that, despite the ephemeral brevity of human life, the uncertainty of our existence and the countless enigmas which press upon us from all sides, everyone does not continually and ceaselessly philosophize, but that only the rarest of exceptions do."

"All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed; Second, it is violently opposed; Third, it is accepted as self-evident."

"Compassion is the basis of morality."

"We can regard our life as a uselessly disturbing episode in the blissful repose of nothingness."

"Qualsiasi uomo notevole, chiunque cioè non appartenga a quei 5/6 dell'umanità dotati tanto miseramente dalla natura, rimarrà dopo i quarant'anni difficilmente esente da una certa traccia di misantropia."

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see."

"Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think."

"For an author to write as he speaks is just as reprehensible as the opposite fault, to speak as he writes; for this gives a pedantic effect to what he says, and at the same time makes him hardly intelligible"

"A man can be himself only so long as he is alone, and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom, for it is only when he is alone that he is really free."