Arthur Schopenhauer, Ph.D., Philosopher

How very paltry and limited the normal human intellect is, and how little lucidity there is in the human consciousness, may be judged from the fact that, despite the ephemeral brevity of human life, the uncertainty of our existence and the countless enigmas which press upon us from all sides, everyone does not continually and ceaselessly philosophize, but that only the rarest of exceptions do so. The rest live their lives away in this dream not very differently from the animals, from which they are in the end distinguished only by their ability to provide for a few years ahead. If they should ever feel any metaphysical need, it is taken care of from above and in advance by the various religions; and these, whatever they may be like, suffice.

Arthur Schopenhauer, Ph.D., Philosopher

Knowledge is power. The devil it is! One man can have a great deal of knowledge without its giving him the least power, while another possesses supreme authority but next to no knowledge.

Arthur Schopenhauer, Ph.D., Philosopher

[M]ost people […] resolve to get by with the least possible expenditure of thought, because to them thinking is hard and burdensome.

Thought is a dialogue with one’s inner self. Those who think ask questions, questions those in authority do not want asked. They remember who we are, where we come from, and where we should go. They remain eternally skeptical and distrustful of power. [Moreover], they know that this moral independence is the only protection from the radical evil that results from collective unconsciousness. The capacity to think is the only bulwark against any centralized authority that seeks to impose mindless obedience. The truly educated make their own wills serve the higher call of justice, empathy, and reason.