Karl Jaspers Quotes

Metaphysical guilt is the lack of absolute solidarity with the human being as such — an indelible claim beyond morally meaningful duty. This solidarity is violated by my presence at a wrong or a crime. It is not enough that I cautiously risk my life to prevent it; if it happens, and I was there, and if I survive where the other is killed, I know from a voice within myself: I am guilty of being still alive.

The 'public' is a phantom, the phantom of an opinion supposed to exist in a vast number of persons who have no effective interrelation and though the opinion is not effectively present in the units. Such an opinion is spoken of as 'public opinion,' a fiction which is appealed to by individuals and by groups as supporting their special views. It is impalpable, illusory, transient; "'tis here, 'tis there, 'tis gone"; a nullity which can nevertheless for a moment endow the multitude with power to uplift or destroy.

إن الفلسفة قد تكون شعوريّة أو لا شعوريّة، واضحة أو مُبهمة، حسنة أو سيّئة، ولكنها في كل هذه الحالات لا تخرج عن كونها فلسفة. وكل من يَنبُذ الفلسفة، إنما يؤكد بذلك أن له فلسفته، دون أن يفطن هو نفسه إلى ذلك.

Nebo: lidé prý viděli neštěstí, netajili se s tím a varovali. Ale to v politice neplatí, jestliže to nevedlo k činům a jestliže tyto činy nebyly úspěšné.

Der Lehrer der Liebe lehrt den Kampf, der Lehrer der lieblosen Isolierung von aller Welt aber die Ruhe.

Even truth can be deceptive, whatever its appearance.

At the parting of ways in the life-order, where the question is between the new creation or decay, that man will be decisive for new creation who is able on his own initiative to seize the helm and steer a course of his own choosing — even if that course be opposed to the will of the masses. Should the emergence of such persons become impossible a lamentable shipwreck will be inevitable.

The mass-man has very little spare time, does not live a life that appertains to a whole, does not want to exert himself except for some concrete aim which can be expressed in terms of utility; he will not wait patiently while things ripen; everything for him must provide some immediate gratification; and even his mental life must minister to his fleeting pleasures. That is why the essay has become the customary form of literature, why newspapers are taking the place of books... People read quickly and cursorily.

The vicious circle of dread of war which leads the nations to arm themselves for self-protection, with the result that bloated armaments ultimately lead to the war which they were intended to avert, can be broken in either of two conceivable ways. There might arise a unique world power, brought into being by the unification of all those now in possession of weapons, and equipped with the capacity to forbid the lesser and unarmed nations to make war. On the other hand, it may arise by the working of a fate to us still inscrutable which, out of ruin, will disclose a way towards the development of a new human being. To will the discovery of this way would be blind impotence, but those who do not wish to deceive themselves will be prepared for the possibility.

No science of religion (history, psychology, or sociology of religion) understands the reality of religion. Science can know and understand religions without the investigator’s belonging to or having faith in any of them. Real faith is not knowable.

If the result of a war is to change nothing, but only to destroy, with the mere result that a group of human beings who do not differ notably from the conquered acquires preponderant advantages for the future, there is lacking the affective strength of an existence that has inspired faith, of an existence whose destiny would have been decided by the war.

Problém viny je tedy primárně a základně vnitřní, niternou záležitostí každého člověka samého; kdo mluví jen o vinách těch druhých ještě nedospěl, nestal se vskutku člověkem, protože buď o svých vinách vůbec neví (to je zlé), nebo si je nechce přiznat (to je ještě horší).

Jistý úředník během denacifikace: „Pokud jsem vstoupil pod nátlakem do strany a dal tak přednost relativně dobrému postavení, pokud jsem se zařídil v nacistickém státě a stal se tak poživatelem určitých výhod a pokud teď musím nést nepříznivé následky, pak nemám - třebaže jsem to učinil s vnitřním nepřátelstvím – právo si stěžovat.

The battle is a collision of power, of gods themselves: man is only a pawn in these terrible games, or their scene, or their medium; but man's greatness consists precisely in his act of becoming such medium. By this act he becomes imbued with a soul and identical with the powers.

Existenz only becomes clear through reason; reason only has content through Existenz.