Here are 10 of the most insightful quotes attributed to Soren Kierkegaard, and the logic behind them.
1. On Character
There is a contrast of primary significance between Augustine and Pelagius. The former crushes everything in order to rebuild it again. The other addresses himself to man as he is.
The Meaning: This line from Soren Kierkegaard compresses a lived tension into a single readable moment. Read it slowly: it is not asking you to agree, but to notice where the same pattern shows up in your own life. If you take it seriously, it becomes a test—what would you change if this were reliably true for you?
2. On Clarity
— Why are modern heroes and the like not just as poetic? Is it because there is so much emphasis on clothing the content in order that the formal aspect can be all the more finished?
The Meaning: This line from Soren Kierkegaard compresses a lived tension into a single readable moment. Read it slowly: it is not asking you to agree, but to notice where the same pattern shows up in your own life. If you take it seriously, it becomes a test—what would you change if this were reliably true for you?
3. On Courage
Socrates did not stop with a philosophical consideration of mankind; he addressed himself to each one individually, wrested everything from him, and sent him away empty-handed.
The Meaning: This line from Soren Kierkegaard compresses a lived tension into a single readable moment. Read it slowly: it is not asking you to agree, but to notice where the same pattern shows up in your own life. If you take it seriously, it becomes a test—what would you change if this were reliably true for you?
4. On People and Relationships
The similarity between Christ and Socrates consists essentially in their dissimilarity. Just as philosophy begins with doubt, so also a life that may be called human begins with irony.
The Meaning: This line from Soren Kierkegaard compresses a lived tension into a single readable moment. Read it slowly: it is not asking you to agree, but to notice where the same pattern shows up in your own life. If you take it seriously, it becomes a test—what would you change if this were reliably true for you?
5. On Love and Devotion
I feel that those who speak there are at least human beings; they hate, they love, they murder their enemies, and curse their descendants throughout all generations, they sin.
The Meaning: This line treats emotion as something that steers decisions more than arguments do. The meaning is practical: if you ignore what you feel, you may still act—but often on autopilot. Naming the feeling is the first step toward choosing it, rather than being dragged by it.
6. On Conflict and Power
It occurs to me that artists go forward by going backward, something which I have nothing against intrinsically when it is a reproduced retreat — as is the case with the better artists.
The Meaning: This is a warning about escalation: once violence becomes the grammar of a conflict, everyone starts speaking it fluently. The deeper point is that the tools you use to win also train the world in how to fight you next time.
7. On People and Relationships
There are many people who reach their conclusions about life like schoolboys; they cheat their master by copying the answer out of a book without having worked out the sum for themselves.
The Meaning: This line from Soren Kierkegaard compresses a lived tension into a single readable moment. Read it slowly: it is not asking you to agree, but to notice where the same pattern shows up in your own life. If you take it seriously, it becomes a test—what would you change if this were reliably true for you?
8. On Faith and Meaning
What is asked of a man that he may be able to pray for his enemies? To pray for one's enemies is the hardest thing of all. That is why it exasperates us so much in our present day situation.
The Meaning: This line from Soren Kierkegaard compresses a lived tension into a single readable moment. Read it slowly: it is not asking you to agree, but to notice where the same pattern shows up in your own life. If you take it seriously, it becomes a test—what would you change if this were reliably true for you?
9. On Faith and Meaning
Father in heaven, when the thought of thee awakens in our soul, let it not waken as an agitated bird which flutters confusedly about, but as a child waking from sleep with a celestial smile.
The Meaning: This line from Soren Kierkegaard compresses a lived tension into a single readable moment. Read it slowly: it is not asking you to agree, but to notice where the same pattern shows up in your own life. If you take it seriously, it becomes a test—what would you change if this were reliably true for you?
10. On Conflict and Power
An old proverb fetched from the outward and visible world says: Only the man that works gets the bread. Strangely enough this proverb does not aptly apply in that world to which it expressly belongs.
The Meaning: This is a warning about escalation: once violence becomes the grammar of a conflict, everyone starts speaking it fluently. The deeper point is that the tools you use to win also train the world in how to fight you next time.
