The quotations of

Søren Kierkegaard

Danish theologian, philosopher, poet and social critic

1813–1855

17 quotes, most often on Freedom, Truth & Lies and Philosophy.

People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought, which they avoid.
Either/Or Part I, Swenson Translation p. 19
- Freedom
To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself.
- Risk
The tyrant dies and his rule is over; the martyr dies and his rule begins.
The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard, 1840s, 1848
- Power
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.
Either/Or Part I, Swenson Translation p. 19
- Freedom
Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it.
Either/Or (1843), Vol. I, Diapsalmata (tr. David F. and Lillian Marvin Swenson)
- Happiness
Concepts, like individuals, have their histories, and are just as incapable of withstanding the ravages of time as are individuals.
On the Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates (1841)
- Ideas
- Time
Since my earliest childhood a barb of sorrow has lodged in my heart. As long as it stays I am ironic — if it is pulled out I shall die.
The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard, 1840s, 1847
- Emotion
Old age realizes the dreams of youth: look at Dean Swift; in his youth he built an asylum for the insane, in his old age he was himself an inmate.
Either/Or (1843), Vol. I, Diapsalmata (tr. David F. and Lillian Marvin Swenson)
- Age
- Youth
It is perfectly true, as the philosophers say, that life must be understood backwards. But they forget the other proposition, that it must be lived forwards.
Journals IV A 164 (1843)
- Life & Death
- Philosophy
The greatest danger, that of losing one’s own self, may pass off as quietly as if it were nothing; every other loss, that of an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife etc., is sure to be noticed.
The Sickness unto Death (July 30, 1849)
- Philosophy
Father in heaven, when the thought of thee awakens in our soul, let it not waken as an agitated bird which flutters confusedly about, but as a child waking from sleep with a celestial smile.
The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard, 1840s
- God
- Prayer
What I really need is to get clear about what I must do, not what I must know, except insofar as knowledge must precede every act.
Journal entry, Gilleleie (1 August 1835) Journals 1A
- Knowledge
It is the duty of the human understanding to understand that there are things which it cannot understand, and what those things are.
The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard, 1840s, 1847
- Knowledge
A man’s personality is matured only when he appropriates the truth, whether it is spoken by Balaam’s ass or a sniggering wag or an apostle or an angel.
Journals IV A 87 (1843)
- Maturity
- Truth & Lies
What the age needs is not a genius — it has had geniuses enough, but a martyr, who in order to teach men to obey would himself be obedient unto death. What the age needs is awakening.
The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard, 1840s (20 November 1847)
- Genius

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