Søren Kierkegaard

Søren Kierkegaard

"The truth is a snare: you cannot have it, without being caught. You cannot have the truth in such a way that you catch it, but only in such a way that it catches you."
142 Quotes
"The truth is a snare: you cannot have it, without being caught. You cannot have the truth in such a way that you catch it, but only in such a way that it catches you."
Søren Kierkegaard
Save
"Personality is only ripe when a man has made the truth his own."
Søren Kierkegaard
Save
"Life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards."
Søren Kierkegaard
Save
"If I am capable of grasping God objectively, I do not believe, but precisely because I cannot do this I must believe."
Søren Kierkegaard
Save
"Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays."
Søren Kierkegaard
Save
"A man who as a physical being is always turned toward the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within him."
Søren Kierkegaard
"Not just in commerce but in the world of ideas too our age is putting on a veritable clearance sale. Everything can be had so dirt cheap that one begins to wonder whether in the end anyone will want to make a bid."
Søren Kierkegaard
"What is a poet? An unhappy person who conceals profound anguish in his heart but whose lips are so formed that as sighs and cries pass over them they sound like beautiful music."
Søren Kierkegaard
"Because of its tremendous solemnity death is the light in which great passions, both good and bad, become transparent, no longer limited by outward appearences."
Søren Kierkegaard
"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
"Patience is necessary, and one cannot reap immediately where one has sown."
Søren Kierkegaard
"Take away paradox from the thinker and you have a professor."
Søren Kierkegaard
"It happened that a fire broke out backstage in a theater. The clown came out to inform the public. They thought it was a jest and applauded. He repeated his warning. They shouted even louder. So I think the world will come to an end amid the general applause from all the wits who believe that it is a joke."
Søren Kierkegaard
"When I was young, I forgot how to laugh in the cave of Trophonius; when I was older, I opened my eyes and beheld reality, at which I began to laugh, and since then, I have not stopped laughing. I saw that the meaning of life was to secure a livelihood, and that its goal was to attain a high position; that love’s rich dream was marriage with an heiress; that friendship’s blessing was help in financial difficulties; that wisdom was what the majority assumed it to be; that enthusiasm consisted in making a speech; that it was courage to risk the loss of ten dollars; that kindness consisted in saying, “You are welcome,” at the dinner table; that piety consisted in going to communion once a year. This I saw, and I laughed."
Søren Kierkegaard
"Life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forward."
Søren Kierkegaard
"If I were to wish for anything I should not wish for wealth and power but for the passionate sense of the potential for the eye which ever young and ardent sees the possible ... what wine is so sparkling so fragrant so intoxicating as possibility!"
Søren Kierkegaard
"Teach me O God not to torture myself not to make a martyr out of myself through stifling reflection but rather teach me to breathe deeply in faith."
Søren Kierkegaard
"To stand on one leg and prove God's existence is a very different thing from going down on one's knees and thanking him."
Søren Kierkegaard
"Prayer does not change God but it changes him who prays."
Søren Kierkegaard
"The tyrant dies and his rule is over the martyr dies and his rule begins."
Søren Kierkegaard
✉️

Get more quotes like Søren Kierkegaard's — every morning.

Join thousands of wisdom seekers getting daily quotes from 300,000+ curated sources.

Free forever. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.