The Wisdom of Life Paperback – March 8, 2004

Not such an easy read but still very good and an excellent resource for Schopenhauer’s works. Good for Philosophy students.

Schopenhauer had a brilliant mind, I enjoyed the narration of his philosophy in advanced vocabulary, also his comparisons of dullness vs brilliance as to what is common as opposed to what is rare. I especially enjoyed his account of what a man or woman really is and how our true happiness comes not from without but from within. I had to look past a few comments which could be considered racist in order to appreciate his work. Those comments I took with a grain of salt as I take special consideration to both the time period and region where he was educated.

Arthur Schopenhauer was a German Philosopher who died in 1860. Among his admirers was Leo Tolstoy. In this translation, he analyses life and postulates what constitutes happiness. He claims that two foes of human happiness are pain and boredom and gives a some-what wealth description on who has more of each. How people deal with these is rooted in their ‘personality’. Poor people work hard to support themselves and it gives them pain. When persons have enough that they don’t have to work, they get bored and play cards or become tourists or spend time with other similar activities. It was interesting to read what he says about reputation, rank, pride, honor and fame. Although with honor, we get lost with peculiarities of the 19th century knighthood and other awkward theories that are today a bit pointless. Regardless of the arguments the author uses, one is impressed by the genius that he was in presenting a clear-cut theory.

Excellent

Arthur, where have you been all my life? Philosophy holds so many answers. It's all about WILL and how it is constantly thrown off track by our personality and by our emotions. My best philosophy quote so far (in my studies), is Will is "the natural flow of an unimpeded idea to action". Which means, you try not to overeat and you really want to not overeat but you can't do it because your emotions and the urge to be nurtured get in the way. Willpower is when you can make it happen.But this is a frustrating translation. The foreign language sentences throughout the book are not translated, for example page 11, omnis motus, quo celerior, eo magis motus. What does that mean? You might know what it means but we don't. And there are lots of foreign language sentences throughout the book. Very frustrating.But I'm getting a lot of life changing fixes out of the book and am thankful to have met Arthur Schopenhauer - thanks to Will Durant.TEACH PHILOSOPHY! The common people need it.

added Herr Schopenhauer to my bookshelf...and got a few more by him, and all his works in his native tongue German....which is better and clearer than any translation out there. He was relevant in his time and definitely relevant in our f'd-up times....perspective is what he gives, but it's up to the individual to want to comprehend what he offers....snowflakes and overall wanna-be-communist-millenials as well as adherents/admirers of all ages to the likes of Saul Alinsky type dribble......: save your mom's money and buy a comic book instead.

For such a small book, 77 pages was enough to nearly change a LOT about my mindset. Arthur Schopenhauer brings incredible insight to the table for those looking to finally submit to a turning point in their lives. This is one of the first books I’ve written a review on because of how well written it was. Translator did great. All around 10/10 book.

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