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Søren Kierkegaard quotes

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“What our age lacks, however, is not reflection but passion.” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“this is one of the most decisive definitions for all Christianity—that the opposite of sin is not virtue but faith.” Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death
“The greatest hazard of all, losing the self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss—an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. —is sure to be noticed.” Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death
“I am convinced that God is love, this thought has for me a primitive lyrical validity.” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“People commonly travel around the world to see rivers and mountains, new stars, birds of rare plumage, queerly deformed fishes, ridiculous breeds of men—they abandon themselves to the bestial stupor which gapes at existence, and they think they...” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“Silence is the snare of the demon, and the more one keeps silent, the more terrifying the demon becomes; but silence is also the mutual understanding between the Deity and the individual.” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“No, not one shall be forgotten who was great in the world. But each was great in his own way, and each in proportion to the greatness of that which he loved. For he who loved himself became great by himself, and he who loved other men became...” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“The true knight of faith is a witness, never a teacher, and therein lies his deep humanity, which is worth a good deal more than this silly participation in others' weal and woe which is honored by the name of sympathy, whereas in fact it is...” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“For it is not what happens to me that makes me great, but it is what I do, and there is surely no one who thinks that a man became great because he won the great prize in the lottery.” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“Faith is a miracle, and yet no man is excluded from it; for that in which all human life is unified is passion, and faith is a passion.” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“Or what is existence for but to be laughed at if men in their twenties have already attained the utmost?” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“Faith is the highest passion in a man. There are perhaps many in every generation who do not even reach it, but no one gets further.” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“Theology sits rouged at the window and courts its favor, offering to sell her charms to philosophy.” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“So soon as I talk I express the universal, and if I do not do so, no one can understand me.” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“It is human to lament, human to weep with them that weep, but it is greater to believe, more blessed to contemplate the believer.” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“Is there such a thing as a teleological suspension of the ethical?” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“If this had not been the case with Abraham, then perhaps he might have loved God but not believed; for he who loves God without faith reflects upon himself, he who loves God believingly reflects upon God.” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“Every movement of infinity comes about by passion, and no reflection can bring a movement about.” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“Where will you find the certainty that it was not after all a hidden pride which governed your resolution?” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“Philosophy cannot and should not give faith, but it should understand itself and know what it has to offer and take nothing away, and least of all should fool people out of something as if it were nothing.” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“He writes because for him it is a luxury which becomes the more agreeable and more evident, the fewer there are who buy and read what he writes.” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“He who has a conception of what it means to live upon spirit knows also what the hunger of doubt is, and that the doubter hungers just as much for the daily bread of life as for the nutriment of the spirit.” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“Death is not the end of the sickness, but death is incessantly the end.” Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death
“If you marry, you will regret it; if you do not marry, you will also regret it; if you marry or if you do not marry, you will regret both; whether you marry or you do not marry, you will regret both.” Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or
“If philosophy among other vagaries were also to have the notion that it could occur to a man to act in accordance with its teaching, one might make out of that a queer comedy.” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling
“Fools and young men prate about everything being possible for a man. That, however, is a great error. Spiritually speaking, everything is possible, but in the world of the finite there is much which is not possible.” Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling

Related topics

passion faith love understanding God philosophy nature action silence greatness finitude lamentation death self virtue youth belief marriage writing teaching

Related sources

Fear and Trembling (22)
The Sickness Unto Death (3)
Either/Or (1)