We can come to look upon the deaths of our enemies with as much regret as we feel for those of our friends, namely, when we miss their existence as witnesses to our success.
Arthur SchopenhauerRead
To be shocked at how deeply rejection hurts is to ignore what acceptance involves. We must never allow our suffering to be compounded by suggestions that there is something odd in suffering so deeply. There would be something amiss if we didn't.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Rejection is painful, and it's important to acknowledge that suffering is a natural response to it.
Arthur Schopenhauer highlights the emotional depth of rejection and emphasizes that it is a typical human experience to feel pain when rejected. He argues that instead of feeling strange about our deep suffering, we should recognize that such feelings signify our capacity to accept and value connections with others.
Themes
RejectionAcceptanceSufferingRelationshipsEmotion
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a motivational speech about overcoming heartbreak.
More from Arthur Schopenhauer
All quotes →Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people.
Arthur SchopenhauerRead
Life is full of troubles and vexations, that one must either rise above it by means of corrected thoughts, or leave it.
Arthur SchopenhauerRead
Our religions will never at any time take root; the ancient wisdom of the human race will not be supplanted by the events in Galilee. On the contrary, Indian wisdom flows back to Europe, and will produce a fundamental change in our knowledge and thought.
Arthur SchopenhauerRead
We will gradually become indifferent to what goes on in the minds of other people when we acquire a knowledge of the superficial nature of their thoughts, the narrowness of their views and of the number of their errors. Whoever attaches a lot of value to the opinions of others pays them too much honor.
Arthur SchopenhauerRead
It would be better if there were nothing. Since there is more pain than pleasure on earth, every satisfaction is only transitory, creating new desires and new distresses, and the agony of the devoured animal is always far greater than the pleasure of the devourer
Arthur SchopenhauerRead
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