5 Arthur Schopenhauer Quotes on Thinking

Arthur Schopenhauer quotes on thinking

47. Truth that has been merely learned is like an ?artificial limb, a false tooth, a waxen nose; at best, ?like a nose made out of another's flesh; it adheres to ?us only 'because it is put on. But truth acquired by ?thinking of our own is like a natural limb; it alone ?really belongs to us. This is the fundamental difference ?between the thinker and the mere man of learning. ?The intellectual attainments of a man who thinks ?for himself resemble a fine painting, where the light ?and shade are correct, the tone sustained, the colour ?perfectly harmonised; it is true to life. On the other ?hand, the intellectual attainments of the mere man of ?learning are like a large palette, full of all sorts of ?colours, which at most are systematically arranged, ?but devoid of harmony, connection and meaning.

48. Reading is merely a surrogate for thinking for yourself; it means letting someone else direct your thoughts. Many books, moreover, serve merely to show how many ways there are of being wrong, and how far astray you yourself would go if you followed their guidance. You should read only when your own thoughts dry up, which will of course happen frequently enough even to the best heads; but to banish your own thoughts so as to take up a book is a sin against the holy ghost; it is like deserting untrammeled nature to look at a herbarium or engravings of landscapes.

70. In youth it is the outward aspect of things that most engages us; while in age, thought or reflection is the predominating quality of the mind. Hence, youth is the time for poetry, and age is more inclined to philosophy. In practical affairs it is the same: a man shapes his resolutions in youth more by the impression that the outward world makes upon him; whereas, when he is old, it is thought that determines his actions.

78. Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption. It is not only an interruption, but also a disruption of thought.

96. A book can never be anything more than the impression of its author's thoughts. The value of these thoughts lies either in the matter about which he has thought, or in the form in which he develops his matter - that is to say, what he has thought about it.