Jean Paul
Jean Paul
Jean Paul, born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, was a German Romantic writer, best known for his humorous novels and stories...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth21 March 1763
CountryGermany
commitment perspective worry
He who asks a question is a fool for a minute; he who does not remains a fool forever. When you realize that by changing your perspective, big things can be seen as little things, it becomes much harder to worry about anything. Commitment is an act, not a word.
essence existence
Freedom is existence, and in it existence precedes essence.
men individuality wish
We do not wish to say only that a man is responsible for his own individuality, but that he is responsible for that of all men.
ideas giving photograph
Photographs are not ideas. They give us ideas.
everyday mind ugly
For common minds have an ugly ability to perceive in the deepest and richest saying nothing but their own everyday opinion.
attitude philosophy views
Philosophy appears to some people as a homogenous milieu: there thoughts are born and die, there systems are built, and there, in turn, they collapse. Others take Philosophy for a specific attitude which we can freely adopt at will. Still others see it as a determined segment of culture. In our view Philosophy does not exist.
men projects
Man is the being whose project it is to be God.
dog moving men
For the time being I have seen enough of living things, of dogs, of men, of all flabby masses which move spontaneously.
events responsible being-responsible
To be responsible is to be the uncontested author of an event or thing.
people hell
Hell is for other people.
people hell
We make our own hell out of the people around us.
believe names soul
It is not right, my fellow-countrymen, you who know very well all the crimes committed in our name. It's not at all right that you do not breathe a word about them to anyone, not even to your own soul, for fear of having to stand in judgment of yourself. I am willing to believe that at the beginning you did not realize what was happening; later, you doubted whether such things could be true; but now you know, and still you hold your tongues.
war ideas chinese
There are photographers who push for war because they make stories. They search for a Chinese who has a more Chinese are than the others and they end up finding one. They have him take a typically Chinese pose and surround him with chinoiseries. What have they captured on their film? A Chinese? Definitely not: the idea of the Chinese.
judgement may existence
Therefore, in the nature of this will for freedom, which freedom itself implies, I may pass judgement on those who seek to hide from themselves the complete arbitrariness and the complete freedom of their existence.