Soren Kierkegaard, born May 5, 1813, Copenhagen, Den. died Nov. 11, 1855, Copenhagen. Danish religious philosopher. A precursor of modern existentialism, he insisted on the need for individual decision and leaps of faith in the search for religious truth, thereby contradicting Protestant rationalist theology. His works include Either/Or and Fear and Trembling (both 1843).

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I . . . begin with the principle that all men are bores. Surely no one will prove himself so great a bore as to contradict me in this. Adversity draws men together and produces beauty and harmony in life's relationships, just as the cold of winter produces ice-flowers on the window-panes, which vanish with the warmth. Because of its tremendous solemnity death is the light in which great passions, both good and bad, become transparent, no longer limited by outward appearences. Since boredom advances and boredom is the root of all evil, no wonder, then, that the world goes backwards, that evil spreads. This can be traced back to the very beginning of the world. The gods were bored; therefore they created human beings. It is quite true what Philosophy says: that Life must be understood backwards. But that makes one forget the other saying: that it must be lived- forwards. The more one ponders this, the more it comes to mean that life in the temporal existence never becomes quite intelligible, precisely because at no moment can I find complete quiet to take the backward-looking position. I do not care for anything. I do not care to ride, for the exercise is too violent. I do not care to walk, walking is too strenuous. I do not care to lie down, for I should either have to remain lying, and I do not care to do that, or I should have to get up again, and I do not care to do that either. Summa summarum: I do not care at all. More Quotes by Soren Kierkegaard: Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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