Arthur Schopenhauer

Corny or not, that's exactly what my father is sometimes, absentminded.

His mind is always up in the stratosphere somewhere, communing with Socrates or Schopenhauer on the meaning of truth.

[laughs] You, you just don't like my father very much.

[laughs] I hardly know your father.

Business echoed the goose-herd.

In that one unassisted noun, scorning the aid of verb, adjective or adverb, the goose-herd, by a masterpiece of profound and subtle emphasis, contrived to express the fact that he existed in a world of dead illusions, that he had become a convert to Schopenhauer, and that Mr. Curtinty's inappropriate geniality was a final grievance to him.

"'There ain't no business,' he added.

"'Dah,' returned Mr Curtenty, thoughtful.

He allured to brighter worlds, but did not lead the way.

Schopenhauer, the great philosopher of pessimism, taught that absolute asceticism was the only true religion and method of escape from the ills of life.

But he never practiced it, and told his disciples to mind his precepts and not his example.

Unfortunately, whenever anyone gives advice in the field of morality or religion, the first person on whom we test its practical value is the preacher.

Even...

Because it is also true that, [laughs] you know, I, I think it was Schopenhauer that said of, of the philosopher Hegel-

[laughs]

... that you had never heard this kind of talk except in madhouses, right?

[laughs]

And, and I think what Schopenhauer's getting at is you can go into a madhouse and listen to people-

Yeah

... and they are unbelievably convincing-

to realize its objectives, but he considered it to be, quote, philosophically impoverished.

And he didn't really seem to understand the kind of trajectory of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Heidegger, you know, to National Socialism.

Now, there's some people who have, like, a punitive, like, Sondervag, like, take on Germany and the Germans as a people and the German state.

That's not, that's not what Hasbom, that's not what I'm saying.

It was Ritter's service to familiarize Strauss with some of the deepest secrets of the scores and writings of Wagner as well as of Liszt, and he understood how to fire his young friend with soaring enthusiasm for his own ideals.

He also did much to inspire the budding conductor with a taste for the writings of Schopenhauer, an inclination he himself had inherited from Wagner.

Ritter's influence, in short, was one of the luckiest developments at this stage of Strauss's career.

The first concert the youth from Munich conducted in Meiningen took place on October 18, 1885.

to realize its objectives, but he considered it to be, quote, philosophically impoverished.

And he didn't really seem to understand the kind of trajectory of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Heidegger, you know, to National Socialism.

Now, there's some people who have, like, a punitive, like, Sondervag, like, take on Germany and the Germans as a people and the German state.

That's not, that's not what Hasbom, that's not what I'm saying.

So for thousands of years, philosophers have said, if you think life is about money and status and showing off, you're going to feel like shit.

That's not an exact quote from Confucius or Schopenhauer, but that is basically what they said.

But weirdly, nobody had scientifically investigated this until an incredible man I got to know named Professor Tim Kasser, who's at Knox College in Illinois.

And he did a huge amount of research on how what you value, what you think matters in life, affects how you feel, how your life plays out.