Soren Kierkegaard Quotes - Page 3

Sitting calmly on a ship in fair weather is not a metaphor for having faith; but when the ship has sprung a leak, then enthusiastically to keep the ship afloat by pumping and not to seek the harbor-that is the metaphor for having faith. (Concluding Unscientific Postscript)

Faith is a marvel, and yet no human being is excluded from it; for that in which all human life is united is passion, and faith is a passion.

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.

To relate oneself expectantly to the possibility of the good is to hope. To relate oneself expectantly to the possibility of evil is to fear. By the decision to choose hope one decides infinitely more than it seems, because it is an eternal decision

Adversity draws men together and produces beauty and harmony in life's relationships, just as the cold of winter produces ice-flowers on the window-panes, which vanish with the warmth.

The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly.

When one has once fully entered the realm of love, the world - no matter how imperfect - becomes rich and beautiful, it consists solely of opportunities for love.

To stand on one leg and prove God's existence is a very different thing from going on one's knees and thanking Him.

The profundity of Christianity is that Christ is both our redeemer and our judge, not that one is our redeemer and another is our judge, for then we certainly come under judgement, but that the redeemer and the judge are the same.

Language has time as its element; all other media have space as their element.

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.

How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech.

Whoever has learned to be anxious in the right way has learned the ultimate.

Only by investing and speaking your
vision with passion can the truth, one
way or the other, finally penetrate the
reluctance of the world.

In addition to my other numerous acquaintances, I have one more intimate confidant… My depression is the most faithful mistress I have known - no wonder, then, that I return the love.