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A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free. Constraint is always present in society, like a companion of whom there is no riddance; and in proportion to the greatness of a man’s individuality, it will be hard for him to bear the sacrifices which all intercourse with others demands.

— Arthur Schopenhauer

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More quotes by Arthur Schopenhauer

The fundament upon which all our knowledge and learning rests is the inexplicable.

Parerga and Paralipomena (1851)

Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.

Parerga and Paralipomena (1851)

Writers may be classified as meteors, planets, and fixed stars.

Parerga and Paralipomena (1851)

Every parting gives a foretaste of death, every reunion a hint of the resurrection.

Parerga and Paralipomena (1851)

Patriotism, when it wants to make itself felt in the domain of learning, is a dirty fellow who should be thrown out of doors.

Parerga and Paralipomena (1851)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Arthur Schopenhauer (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.