Søren Kierkegaard Zitate

39 Weisheiten über das Leben, die Freiheit und das Wesen des Menschen

Die Tagebücher. Deutsch von Theodor Haecker. Brenner-Verlag 1923, S. 203 books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=8D-ehrAsTPAC&q=r%C3%BCckw%C3%A4rts "Det er ganske sandt, hvad Philosophien siger, at Livet maa forstaaes baglaends. Men derover glemmer man den anden Saetning, at det maa leves forlaends." - 1843, Journalen JJ 167, Søren Kierkegaards Skrifter 18: Journalerne EE, FF, GG, HH, JJ, KK. Søren Kierkegaard Forskningscenteret, 2001, S. 194, books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=w-rWAAAAMAAJ&q=bagl%C3%A6nds
Tagebücher 1834–1855

Die Krankheit zum Tode Original dän.: "Bekymringen er Forholdet til Livet [...]."]
Die Krankheit zum Tode

13. Dez. 1854, von Karl Kraus zitiert in "Die Fackel" Band 27, S. 26, books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=YoMsAQAAIAAJ&q=Dasein+verdankt " For tre Ting takker jeg Gud / 1) At intet levende Væsen skylder mig Tilværelse." - Journalerne NB31-NB36. København Gad 2009, S. 416 books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=WzdRAAAAYAAJ&q=skylder
Tagebücher 1834–1855

Entweder - Oder, 1. Teil zeno. org

zeno.org http://www.zeno.org/nid/20009194533 Original dän.: "Hvad er en Digter? Et ulykkeligt Menneske, der gjemmer dybe Qvaler i sit hjerte, men vis Læber ere dannede saaledes, at idet Sukket og Skriget strømme ud over dem, lyde de som en skjøn Musik."
Entweder - Oder

Der Begriff Angst, Werke I. In neuer Übertragung und mit Kommentar von Liselotte Richter, Rowohlt Klassiker/ RK 71

Der Begriff Angst (Original dän.: "[J]o mindre Aand jo mindre Angest."}
Der Begriff Angst

Einübung im Christentum, Werke Bd. 12 S. 52f.

Entweder - Oder, 1. Teil zeno. org

zeno.org http://www.zeno.org/nid/20009194746 Original dän.: "Paa Forandring raaber Alle, der kjede sig."
Entweder - Oder

Der Begriff Angst Original dän.: "Øieblikket er hiint Tvetydige, hvori Tiden og Evigheden berøre hinanden [...]."
Der Begriff Angst

Entweder - Oder, 1. Teil zeno.org http://www.zeno.org/nid/20009194533 Original dän.: "Gift Dig, Du vil fortryde det; gift Dig ikke, Du vil ogsaa fortryde det [...]." -
Entweder - Oder

Der Begriff Angst Original dän.: "At Qvinden er mere sandselig end Manden, viser strax hendes legemlige Organisation."
Der Begriff Angst

Entweder - Oder, 2. Teil zeno. org

Entweder - Oder, 2. Teil zeno.org http://www.zeno.org/nid/20009194754 Original dän.: "Men hvad er da dette mit Selv? Dersom jeg vilde tale om et foerste Øieblik, et første Udtryk derfor, saa er mit Svar: det er det Abstrakteste af Alt, der dog tillige i sig er det Concreteste af Alt -- det er Friheden." -
Entweder - Oder

Entweder - Oder, 1. Teil zeno. org

Entweder - Oder, 1. Teil zeno.org http://www.zeno.org/nid/20009194533 Original dän.: "Hvad skal der komme? Hvad skal Fremtiden bringe? Jeg veed det ikke, jeg ahner intet. Naar en Edderkop fra et vast Punkt styrter sig ned i sine Consequentser, da seer den bestandig et tomt Rum foran sig, hvori den ikke kan finde Fodfæste, hvormeget den end sprætter. Saaledes gaaer det mig; hvad der driver meg frem er en Consequents, der ligger bag mig. Dette Liv er bagvendt og rædsomt, ikke til at udholde."
Entweder - Oder

Furcht und Zittern

Original dän.: "[T]hi den, der har resigneret uendeligt, han er sig selv nok."

Stadien auf des Lebens Weg, In vino veritas

8. Feb. 1839, in: Buch des Richters - Seine Tagebücher 1833-1855. Im Auszug aus dem Dänischen von Hermann Gottsched, Diederichs, Leipzig 1905. S. 19 "Længsel er det høiere Livs Navlestreng." - Søren Kierkegaards Papirer. Band 2. Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag, 1910, S. 140 books.google.de http://books.google.de/books?id=xssuAQAAIAAJ&q=navlestreng
Tagebücher 1834–1855

Letzte Worte, 11. November 1855; zitiert in: Universitas, Band 63, Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, 2008 S. 1098

Concluding Unscientific Postscript

Furcht und Zittern, S. 25 http://books.google.com/books?id=ZE8YAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25
Furcht und Zittern

Zitiert bei Peter L. Berger, p. 189 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=qOjmBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA189&dq=freude
"Men Humoren er ogsaa den Glæde, der har seiret over Verden." - 1837 / 672 U.D. Papirer, Band 2, Gyldendal 1910, p. 240 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=5PLjrEWC14wC&q=Men+Humoren+er+ogsaa+den+Gl%C3%A6de
Tagebücher 1834–1855

Marry, and you will regret it; don’t marry, you will also regret it; marry or don’t marry, you will regret it either way. Laugh at the world’s foolishness, you will regret it; weep over it, you will regret that too; laugh at the world’s foolishness or weep over it, you will regret both. Believe a woman, you will regret it; believe her not, you will also regret it… Hang yourself, you will regret it; do not hang yourself, and you will regret that too; hang yourself or don’t hang yourself, you’ll regret it either way; whether you hang yourself or do not hang yourself, you will regret both. This, gentlemen, is the essence of all philosophy.
Quelle: Either/Or

Quelle: The Concept of Anxiety: A Simple Psychologically Orienting Deliberation on the Dogmatic Issue of Hereditary Sin

Attributed to Kierkegaard in a number of books, the earliest located on Google Books being the 1976 book Jack Kerouac: Prophet of the New Romanticism by Robert A. Hipkiss, p. 83 http://books.google.com/books?id=g_JaAAAAMAAJ&q=%22problem+to+be+solved%22#search_anchor. In the 1948 The Hibbert Journal: Volumes 46-47 the quote is referred to as "the famous Kierkegaardian slogan" on p. 237 http://books.google.com/books?id=UuDRAAAAMAAJ&q=%22the+famous+Kierkegaardian+slogan+life+is+not+a+problem+to+be+solved%22#search_anchor, which may be intended to suggest the phrase is Kierkegaard-esque rather than being something written by Kierkegaard. In reality this seems to be a slightly altered version of the quote "The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved; it is a reality to be experienced" which appeared in the 1928 book The Conquest of Illusion by Jacobus Johannes Leeuw, p. 9 http://books.google.com/books?id=OFdVAAAAMAAJ&q=%22not+a+problem+to+be+solved%22#search_anchor.
Misattributed

Voice: Young Man
1840s, Repetition (1843)
Kontext: One sticks one’s finger into the soil to tell by the smell in what land one is: I stick my finger in existence — it smells of nothing. Where am I? Who am I? How came I here? What is this thing called the world? What does this world mean? Who is it that has lured me into the world? Why was I not consulted, why not made acquainted with its manners and customs instead of throwing me into the ranks, as if I had been bought by a kidnapper, a dealer in souls? How did I obtain an interest in this big enterprise they call reality? Why should I have an interest in it? Is it not a voluntary concern? And if I am to be compelled to take part in it, where is the director? I should like to make a remark to him. Is there no director? Whither shall I turn with my complaint?

Quelle: Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard

As attributed in Journal of Marriage and Family Counseling, Vol. 2 (1976) by American Association of Marriage and Family Counselors, p. 33; no earlier incidents have been located.
Variants:
When you label me, you negate me.
As attributed in Inner Joy (1985) by Kory Bloomfield, p 169
Disputed
Variante: What labels me, negates me.

Quelle: 1850s, Practice in Christianity (September 1850), p. 18-19
Kontext: Accept the invitation so that the inviter may save you from what is so hard and dangerous to be saved from, so that, saved, you may be with him who is the Savior of all, of innocence also. For even if it were possible that utterly pure innocence was to be found somewhere, why should it not also need a Savior who could keep it safe from evil! –The invitation stands at the crossroad, there where the way of sin turns more deeply into sin. Come here, all you who are lost and gone astray, whatever your error and sin, be it to human eyes more excusable and yet perhaps more terrible, or be it to human eyes more terrible and yet perhaps more excusable, be it disclosed here on earth or be it hidden and yet known in heaven-and even if you found forgiveness on earth but no peace within, or found no forgiveness because you did not seek it, or because you sought it in vain: oh, turn around and come here, here is rest! The invitation stands at the crossroad, there where the way of sin turns off for the last time and disappears from view in-perdition. Oh, turn around, turn around, come here; do not shrink from the difficulty of retreat, no matter how hard it is; do not be afraid of the laborious pace of conversion, however toilsomely it leads to salvation, whereas sin leads onward with winged speed, with mounting haste-or leads downward so easily, so indescribably easily, indeed, as easily as when the horse, completely relieved of pulling, cannot, not even with all its strength, stop the wagon, which runs it into the abyss. Do not despair over every relapse, which the God of patience has the patience to forgive and under which a sinner certainly should have the patience to humble himself. No, fear nothing and do not despair; he who says “Come here” is with you on the way; from him there is help and forgiveness on the way of conversion that leads to him, and with him is rest.

Quelle: 1850s, Practice in Christianity (September 1850), p. 115
Kontext: When in sickness I go to a physician, he may find it necessary to prescribe a very painful treatment-there is no self-contradiction in my submitting to it. No, but if on the other hand I suddenly find myself in trouble, an object of persecution, because, because I have gone to that physician: well, then then there is a self-contradiction. The physician has perhaps announced that he can help me with regard to the illness from which I suffer, and perhaps he can really do that-but there is an "aber" [but] that I had not thought of at all. The fact that I get involved with this physician, attach myself to him-that is what makes me an object of persecution; here is the possibility of offense. So also with Christianity. Now the issue is: will you be offended or will you believe. If you will believe, then you push through the possibility of offense and accept Christianity on any terms. So it goes; then forget the understanding; then you say: Whether it is a help or a torment, I want only one thing, I want to belong to Christ, I want to be a Christian.

The Point of View of My Work as an Author (1848, 1851, 1859)<!-- Lowrie 1939, 1962 --> p. 153-155
1840s
Kontext: I have never fought in such a way as to say: I am the true Christian, others are not Christians. No, my contention has been this: I know what Christianity is, my imperfection as a Christian I myself fully recognize — but I know what Christianity is. And to get this properly recognized must be, I should think, to every man’s interest, whether he be a Christian or not, whether his intention is to accept Christianity or to reject it. But I have attacked no one as not being a Christian, I have condemned no one. Indeed, the pseudonym Johannes Climacus, who sets the problem ‘about becoming a Christian’, does exactly the opposite: he denies that he is a Christian and concedes this claim to the others — the remotest possible remove, surely, from condemning others! And I myself have from the first clearly asserted, again and again repeated, that I am ‘without authority’. My tactics were, by God’s aid, to employ every means to make it clear what the requirement of Christianity truly is — even though not one single person should be induced to enter into it, and though I myself might have to give up being a Christian (in which case I should have felt obliged to make open admission of the fact). On the other hand, my tactics were these: instead of giving the impression, in however small a degree, that there are such difficulties about Christianity that an apology for it is needed if men are to be persuaded to enter into it, rather to represent it as a thing so infinitely lofty, as in truth it is, that the apology belongs in another place, is required, that is to say, of us for the fact that we venture to call ourselves Christians, or it transforms itself into a contrite confession that we have God to thank if we merely assume to regard ourselves as a Christian. But neither must this ever be forgotten: Christianity is just as lenient as it is austere, just as lenient, that is to say, infinitely lenient. When the infinite requirement is heard and upheld, heard and upheld in all its infinitude, then grace is offered, or rather grace offers itself, and to it the individual, each for himself, as I also do, can flee for refuge.

Quelle: The Sickness Unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition for Upbuilding and Awakening

1841
1840s, The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard, 1840s

Soren Kierkegaard, Three Discourses at the Communion on Fridays.1 John 3: From Cristian Discourses & The Lilies of the Field & The Birds of the Air, & Discourses at the Communion on Fridays 1848 Translated by Walter Lowrie 1940, 1961 Galaxy Books P. 298-299
1840s, Christian Discourses (1848)

Quelle: 1840s, The Sickness unto Death (July 30, 1849), pp. 114 - 115

Variante: People understand me so little that they do not even understand when I complain of being misunderstood.
Quelle: The Journals of Kierkegaard

Journals IV A 164 (1843)
See Phenomenology: Critical Concepts in Philosophy, by Dermot Moran (2002)
Variants:
We live forward, but we understand backward.
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
1840s, The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard, 1840s

Quelle: The Sickness Unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition for Upbuilding and Awakening

Quelle: Either/Or: A Fragment of Life

Quelle: Either/Or: A Fragment of Life

On Regine Olsen (2 February 1839)
1830s, The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard, 1830s
Kontext: Oh, can I really believe the poet's tales, that when one first sees the object of one's love, one imagines one has seen her long ago, that all love like all knowledge is remembrance, that love too has its prophecies in the individual. … it seems to me that I should have to possess the beauty of all girls in order to draw out a beauty equal to yours; that I should have to circumnavigate the world in order to find the place I lack and which the deepest mystery of my whole being points towards, and at the next moment you are so near to me, filling my spirit so powerfully that I am transfigured for myself, and feel that it's good to be here.