Can anybody help me to identify the source of this Schopenhauer quote?

Hi there!

At Le Web last month Alexander Tamas of DST International mentioned this famous quotation by Schopenhauer, but while I can find the full quotation (see below) easily enough I can’t manage to place it in Schopenhauer’s ouvre. Can anybody answer this one?

“Authors can be divided into meteors, planets and fixed stars. The meteors produce a loud momentary effect; we look up, shout ‘see there!’ and then they are gone for ever. The planets and comets last for a much longer time….The fixed stars alone are constant and unalterable; their position in the firmament is fixed; they have their own light and are at all times active, because they do not alter their appearance through a change in our standpoint, for they have no parallax. Unlike the others, they do not belong to one system (nation) alone, but to the world. But just because they are situated so high, their light usually requires many years before it becomes visible to the inhabitants of earth.”
–Arthur Schopenhauer


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4 responses to “Can anybody help me to identify the source of this Schopenhauer quote?”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    Teh Google has it in 1891’s “The Art of Literature,” published after his death. Dictionary.com concurs it appeared there, and further offers that it was originally published in “Parerga and Paralipomena, vol. 2 (1851).” Other websites agree the quote first appeared in that 1851 collection of essays.

    1. bradberens Avatar
      bradberens

      Fantastic & thanks!!! I checked Google but didn’t see it… Did you run it through Google Books?

      1. David Avatar
        David

        Yep, Google Books had the 1891 usage. You’re welcome!

  2. Adam Kleinberg Avatar

    I think you could also find it on Schopenhauer’s Greatest Hits :),

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