Notes From The Parade

Animals are much more content with mere existence than we are; the plants are wholly so; and man is so according to how dull and insensitive he is. The animal’s life consequently contains less suffering but also less pleasure than the human’s, the direct reason being that on the one hand it is free from care and anxiety and the torments that attend them, but on the other is without hope and therefore has no share in that anticipation of a happy future which, together with the enchanting products of the imagination which accompany it, is the source of most of our greatest joys and pleasures.

The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs.

It is not enough to prove something, one has also to seduce or elevate people to it. That is why the man of knowledge should learn how to speak his wisdom: and often in such a way that it sounds like folly!

“The only thing that will redeem mankind is co-operation, and the first step towards co-operation lies in the hearts of individuals.”

It requires more than a day’s devotion to know and to possess the wealth of a day.

Why are philosophers intent on forcing others to believe things? Is that a nice way to behave towards someone?

Only the descent into the hell of self-knowledge can pave the way to godliness.

I am going to outlive myself. Eat, sleep, sleep, eat. Exist slowly, softly, like these trees, like a puddle of water, like the red bench in the streetcar.