Soren Kierkegaard Quotes

Most people believe that the Christian commandments are intentionally a little too severe - like setting a clock half an hour ahead to make sure of not being late in the morning.

Faith is the highest passion in a human being. Many in every generation may not come that far, but none comes further.

Prayer does not change God but it changes him who prays.

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.

People hardly ever make use of the freedom they have for example freedom of thought instead they demand freedom of speech as a compensation.

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.

Without risk faith is an impossibility.

If I am capable of grasping God objectively, I do not believe, but precisely because I cannot do this I must believe.

The conclusions of passion are the only reliable ones.

Life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forward.

Face the facts of being what you are, for that is what changes what you are.

Personality is only ripe when a man has made the truth his own.

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.

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.

Purity of heart is to will one thing.

Truth is not introduced into the individual from without but was within him all the time.

Patience is necessary, and one cannot reap immediately where one has sown.

Life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards.

Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it.

Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.

Once you label me you negate me.

Wherever there is a crowd there is untruth.

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.

What our age lacks is not reflection but passion.

It seems essential, in relationships and all tasks, that we concentrate only on what is most significant and important.

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.

The tyrant dies and his rule is over the martyr dies and his rule begins.

Take away paradox from the thinker and you have a professor.

Life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards.

Marriage brings one into fatal connection with custom and tradition, and traditions and customs are like the wind and weather, altogether incalculable.

Adversity not only draws people together but brings forth that beautiful inward friendship.

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.