quote · Legacy record
Not until a person has inwardly understood himself and then sees the course he is to take does his life gain peace and meaning. How unreasonable people are! They never use the freedoms they have but demand those who they do not have; they have freedom of thought - they demand freedom of speech. To get into a rational conversation with an insane person is almost enough to drive you crazy. Nature, the totality of God’s work, and yet God is not there. To be an author... is about the thankless job there is. Someone who does not posses a penny can be just as compassionate as a person who gives a way a kingdom. Life must be lived forward, but can only be understood backward. Providence watches over each of us as we journey through life, providing us with two guides: repentance and remorse. The one calls us forward. The other calls us back. Yet they do not contradict each other, nor do they leave the traveler in doubt or confusion. 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.
Not until a person has inwardly understood himself and then sees the course he is to take does his life gain peace and meaning. How unreasonable people are! They never use the freedoms they have but demand those who they do not have; they have freedom of thought - they demand freedom of speech. To get into a rational conversation with an insane person is almost enough to drive you crazy. Nature, the totality of God’s work, and yet God is not there. To be an author... is about the thankless job there is. Someone who does not posses a penny can be just as compassionate as a person who gives a way a kingdom. Life must be lived forward, but can only be understood backward. Providence watches over each of us as we journey through life, providing us with two guides: repentance and remorse. The one calls us forward. The other calls us back. Yet they do not contradict each other, nor do they leave the traveler in doubt or confusion. 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.
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- Author or tradition
- Søren Aabye Kierkegaard
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- Contributor-provided wisdom reference (2014 AD)
Supplied reference B; unit 1031; PDF page 100; printed attribution: Søren Aabye Kierkegaard
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