“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 source“Real enjoyment consists not in what one enjoys but in the idea.”
— Søren Kierkegaard Primary source“There are particular occasions when one may be most painfully moved to see a person standing utterly alone in the world. The other day I saw a poor girl walking utterly alone to church to be confirmed.”
— Søren Kierkegaard Primary source“Desire in our age is simultaneously sinful and boring, because it desires what belongs to the neighbor.”
— Søren Kierkegaard Primary source“The most beautiful time is the first period of falling in love, when, from every encounter, every glance, one fetches home something new to rejoice over.”
— Søren Kierkegaard Primary source“Recollection is more richly satisfying than all actuality.”
— Søren Kierkegaard Primary source“How unreasonable people are! They never use the freedoms they have but demand those they do not have; they have freedom of thought—they demand freedom of speech.”
— Søren Kierkegaard Primary source“The joy of anticipation is the greatest.”
— Søren Kierkegaard Disputed“There are, as is known, insects that die in the moment of fertilization. So it is with all joy: life’s highest, most splendid moment of enjoyment is accompanied by death.”
— Søren Kierkegaard Primary source“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 Primary source“Marry, and you will regret it. Do not marry, and you will also regret it. Marry or do not marry, you will regret it either way.”
— Søren Kierkegaard Primary sourceRalph Waldo Emerson Vilfredo Pareto William Ralph Inge Aristotle Franklin D. Roosevelt