“I prefer to talk with children, for one may still dare to hope that they may become rational beings; but those who have become that—good Lord!”
Søren Kierkegaard
The quote comes from the Diapsalmata, a collection of aphorisms that opens Either/Or (1843). Kierkegaard published the book under the pseudonym Victor Eremita, and within it the Diapsalmata are attributed to a further fictional figure called “A,” a young aesthete. Kierkegaard deliberately used such pseudonyms to signal that these viewpoints were not necessarily his own.
Either/Or (Primary source)
Either/Or, published under the pseudonym Victor Eremita (“victorious hermit”), presents a dialectical exploration of two contrasting life views: the aesthetic and the ethical.
“Most people rush after pleasure so fast that they rush right past it.”
— Søren Kierkegaard Primary source“Pleasure disappoints; possibility does not.”
— Søren Kierkegaard Primary source“No one comes back from the dead; no one has come into the world without weeping. No one asks when one wants to come in; no one asks when one wants to go out.”
— Søren Kierkegaard Primary source“My time I divide as follows: the one half I sleep; the other half I dream. I never dream when I sleep; that would be a shame, because to sleep is the height of genius.”
— Søren Kierkegaard Primary sourceMore quotes by Søren Kierkegaard →
“You may be too cunning for one, but not for all.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“Every day above earth is a good day.”
— Ernest Hemingway Primary source“Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“The only rational way of educating is to be an example—if one can’t help it, a warning example.”
— Albert Einstein Primary source