Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.
Angest er Frihedens Svimmelhed.
Philosophers
Søren Kierkegaard
Born in 1813 in Copenhagen, Denmark, Kierkegaard challenged Hegel's grand system-philosophy from the standpoint of the 'single individual,' placing subjective experiences — anxiety, despair, the leap of faith — at the center of philosophy. Through polyphonic works published under pseudonyms, he delineated three stages of existence: the aesthetic, the ethical, and the religious. Widely called the 'father of existentialism,' he prepared the ground for twentieth-century existentialist thought.
View this figure's profile
Søren Kierkegaard's Other Quotes
Related Quotes
Exile is not an evil.
-- Gaius Musonius Rufus
Cato, while he lived, lived in such a way that he lacked nothing — so long as he was free to die.
-- Cato the Younger
If I were not Alexander, I would wish to be Diogenes.
-- Diogenes of Sinope
Stand a little out of my sunlight.
-- Diogenes of Sinope
What frees you from slavery is not wealth but needing nothing.
-- Crates of Thebes
In the northern darkness there is a fish called Kun. The Kun is so vast one cannot tell how many thousands of li it spans. It transforms into a bird called Peng. The back of the Peng is so vast one cannot tell how many thousands of li it spans.
-- Zhuang Zhou