Quotes by Søren Kierkegaard

Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) — Philosoph, Theologe · Lutherisch · Dänemark

Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) war ein dänischer Philosoph und Theologe, der zeitlebens als freier Schriftsteller in Kopenhagen wirkte. Als Vordenker der Existenzphilosophie betonte er die persönliche Verantwortung des „Einzelnen“ vor Gott und kritisierte das bürgerliche Kulturchristentum der damaligen dänischen Staatskirche scharf. Heutigen Bibellesern stellt er den christlichen Glauben als existenzielle, unbedingte Nachfolgeentscheidung jenseits bloßer religiöser Konvention vor Augen.

Era: Revival & the 19th Century

Recurring topics: Meaning & Identity, Grace & Redemption, Faith & Trust, Discipleship, Wisdom & Understanding, Love, Freedom & Truth, Prayer & Silence

Quotes by Søren Kierkegaard

Prayer does not change God, but the one who prays.
Søren Kierkegaard

The world consists of nothing but opportunities for love.
Søren Kierkegaard

Above all, do not forget the duty to love yourself.
Søren Kierkegaard

We are more lost than we want to admit, and we are more deeply redeemed than we dare to hope.
Søren Kierkegaard

Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.
Søren Kierkegaard

He who dares loses his footing for a moment; he who does not dare loses himself.
Søren Kierkegaard

God has only one joy: to give. So the one who is most welcome is the one who needs the most!
Søren Kierkegaard

A person rests in the forgiveness of sin when the thought of God does not remind him of the sin, but of the fact that it is forgiven.
Søren Kierkegaard

Christ is the only place where one can humble oneself without being humiliated.
Søren Kierkegaard

Christianity is not a teaching but a communication of existence. Christ appointed no lecturers, but followers.
Søren Kierkegaard

True discipleship does not come about by preaching: You shall follow God; but by preaching what God has done for me. If a person grasps and feels this deeply and truly, how infinitely much it is, discipleship already follows.
Søren Kierkegaard

It is in no way the striving of man that brings about reconciliation, but it is the joy over reconciliation that brings forth an honest striving.
Søren Kierkegaard

Everything must turn out well, because Christ is risen.
Søren Kierkegaard

Lord, grant me a weak eye for things that do not matter, and a strong eye for all your truth.
Søren Kierkegaard

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
Søren Kierkegaard

The thing is to find a truth which is truth for me, to find the idea for which I am willing to live and die.
Søren Kierkegaard

Jesus Christ does not want admirers, but followers. The admirer is the cheap popular edition of the follower.
Søren Kierkegaard

The tyrant dies and his rule is over; the martyr dies and his reign begins.
Søren Kierkegaard

A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to tell the audience. They thought it was a joke and applauded. He repeated the announcement; they cheered even louder. That, I think, is how the world will end.
Søren Kierkegaard

Comparing is the end of happiness and the beginning of discontent.
Søren Kierkegaard

The true relationship in prayer does not come about when God hears what is prayed for, but when the one praying keeps praying until he hears what God is asking of him.
Søren Kierkegaard

Praying does not mean listening to oneself speak. Praying means becoming still and being still, and listening until the one praying hears God.
Søren Kierkegaard

He who marries the spirit of the age today will be a widower tomorrow.
Søren Kierkegaard

Love edifies by presupposing and calling forth the lovable in the other.
Søren Kierkegaard

God creates everything out of nothing - and everything that God wants to use, he first reduces to nothing.
Søren Kierkegaard

A believer is surely a lover, indeed, of all lovers the most in love.
Søren Kierkegaard

To need God is man's highest perfection.
Søren Kierkegaard

As the still lake has its dark depth in the deep spring, so a person's love has its mysterious ground in God's light.
Søren Kierkegaard

Once it was like this: man understood only little, but the little moved him deeply. Today he understands much, but it does not move him, or only superficially.
Søren Kierkegaard

That is why I prefer autumn to spring: in autumn the eye looks toward heaven, but in spring toward the earth.
Søren Kierkegaard

Truly, something is more repugnant to Christianity than any heresy; it is that one plays at being Christian.
Søren Kierkegaard

Never give up on a person or the hope for them without love.
Søren Kierkegaard

I recognize truth only when it comes alive in me.
Søren Kierkegaard

Only from those who have been transformed can transformation come.
Søren Kierkegaard

To believe means constantly to expect the joyful, the happy, the good.
Søren Kierkegaard

Most people hasten so eagerly after pleasure that they hasten right past it.
Søren Kierkegaard

A follower strives to be what he admires; an admirer keeps himself personally at a distance; knowingly or unknowingly, he does not discover that what he admires contains a demand upon him.
Søren Kierkegaard

Wistfully the one I am greets the one I wish to be.
Søren Kierkegaard

A poet is an unhappy being whose heart is torn by secret sufferings, but whose lips are so strangely formed that when sighs and cries escape them, they sound like the most beautiful music.
Søren Kierkegaard

The more advanced someone is in discipleship, the more they will discover that they need reconciliation and grace.
Søren Kierkegaard

162 quotes in total — browse the collection.

Sources: stanford.edu, wikipedia.org

All quotes · lumen.bible