"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
"A man's knowledge may be said to be mature, in other words, when it has reached the most complete state of perfection to which he, as an individual, is capable of bringing it, when an exact correspondence is established between the whole of his abstract ideas and the things he has actually perceived for himself. His will mean that each of his abstract ideas rests, directly or indirectly, upon a basis of observation, which alone endows it with any real value; and also that he is able to place every observation he makes under the right abstract idea which belongs to it."
6 likes
Source: Arthur Schopenhauer (2012). “Collected Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer”, p.256, Simon and Schuster
About the author
Same author
More quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer
"It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else."
"The majority of men... are not capable of thinking, but only of believing, and... are not accessible to reason, but only to authority."
"A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free."
"Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see."
"The real meaning of persona is a mask, such as actors were accustomed to wear on the ancient stage; and it is quite true that no one shows himself as he is, but wears his mask and plays his part. Indeed, the whole of our social arrangements may be likened to a perpetual comedy; and this is why a man who is worth anything finds society so insipid, while a blockhead is quite at home in it."