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Arthur Schopenhauer Quotes about Past

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To attain something desired is to discover how vain it is; and…though we live all our lives in expectation of better things, we often at the same time long regretfully for what is past. The present, on the other hand,

To attain something desired is to discover how vain it is; and…though we live all our lives in expectation of better things, we often at the same time long regretfully for what is past. The present, on the other hand, is regarded as something quite temporary and serving only as the road to our goal. That is why most men discover when they look back on their life that they have the whole time been living ad interim, and are surprised to see that which they let go by so unregarded and unenjoyed was precisely their life, was precisely in expectation of which they lived.

Arthur Schopenhauer
Letting Go, Past, Men
Arthur Schopenhauer (2016). “101 Facts of life”, p.53, Publishdrive

Opinion is like a pendulum and obeys the same law. If it goes past the centre of gravity on one side, it must go a like distance on the other; and it is only after a certain time that it finds the true point at which it can remain at rest.

Arthur Schopenhauer
Distance, Past, Law
Arthur Schopenhauer (2015). “Studies in Pessimism: Top of Schopenhauer”, p.35, 谷月社

To gain anything we have longed for is only to discover how vain and empty it is; and even though we are always living in expectation of better things, at the same time we often repent and long to have the past back again.

Arthur Schopenhauer
Past, Long, Expectations
Arthur Schopenhauer (2012). “Collected Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer”, p.226, Simon and Schuster

As the strata of the earth preserve in succession the living creatures of past epochs, so the shelves of libraries preserve in succession the errors of the past and their expositions, which like the former were very lively and made a great commotion in their own age but now stand petrified and stiff in a place where only the literary palaeontologist regards them.

Arthur Schopenhauer
Past, Errors, Age
Arthur Schopenhauer (2004). “On the Suffering of the World”, p.129, Penguin UK

Something of great importance now past is inferior to something of little importance now present, in that the latter is a reality, and related to the former as something to nothing.

Arthur Schopenhauer
Past, Reality, Littles
Arthur Schopenhauer (2012). “Collected Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer”, p.225, Simon and Schuster

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