“Pleasure disappoints; possibility does not.”
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.
“If I were to wish for something, I would wish not for wealth or power but for the passion of possibility, for the eye, eternally young, eternally ardent, that sees possibility everywhere. Pleasure disappoints; possibility does not. And what wine is so sparkling, so fragrant, so intoxicating!”
Søren Kierkegaard
“Most people rush after pleasure so fast that they rush right past it.”
— 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 source“Real enjoyment consists not in what one enjoys but in the idea.”
— Søren Kierkegaard Primary sourceMore quotes by Søren Kierkegaard →
“The eye of a master, will do more work than his hand.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor liberty to purchase power.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.”
— Leonardo da Vinci Disputed“Have you something to do tomorrow; do it today.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary sourcePleasure Possibility Disappointment