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Walter Kaufmann Quotes

1921–1980 Germany

Walter Arnold Kaufmann (1 July 1921 – 4 September 1980) was a German-American philosopher, translator, and poet, most famous as a translator and scholar of the works of Friedrich Nietzsche.

Germany
Academics
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Philosophers
Poets

Also known as: Walter Kaufman, Walter Kaufmann

Random Walter Kaufmann quote

23 quotes

One’s strategy in trying to defend or to attack the claim that God exists obviously depends on what is meant by “God.” It may be objected that it is not so difficult to isolate what might be called the popular conception of God. The problem of suffering is of crucial importance because it shows that the God of popular theism does not exist.

The Faith of a Heretic (1963)

Even if there were exceedingly few things in a finite space in an infinite time, they would not have to repeat in the same configurations. Suppose there were three wheels of equal size, rotating on the same axis, one point marked on the circumference of each wheel, and these three points lined up in one straight line. If the second wheel rotated twice as fast as the first, and if the speed of the third wheel was 1/π of the speed of the first, the initial line-up would never recur.

Of faith and morals, one cannot speak honestly for long without hurting feelings. Therefore, most people speak dishonestly of the most important subjects. Many recent philosophers prefer not to speak of them at all. But in some situations honesty is incompatible with silence.

The Faith of a Heretic (1961)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Walter Kaufmann (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.