The World as Will and Idea, Vol. I — Arthur Schopenhauer, trans. Haldane & Kemp
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The translator’s English as printed (R. B. Haldane & J. Kemp). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
life which, till then, they have employed all their powers to maintain as long as possible. Ennui is by no means an evil to be liglitly'^teemed ; in the end it depicts on the~c6uhte-~ nance real despair. It makes beings who love each other so little as men do, seelc Hcii' ^hief'eagerlyj arid thus b^ coines" the' source of social intercourse, Moreover, even from motives of policy, public precautions are everywhere taken against it, as against other universal calamities. For this evil may drive men to the greatest excesses, just as much as its opposite extreme, famine : the people require panem et circenses. The strict penitentiary system of Philadelphia makes use of ennui alone as a means of punishment, through solitary confinement and idleness, and it is found so terrible that it has even led prisoners to commit suicide. As want is the constant scourge of the people, so ennui is'^that 7)f the fashionable world. In mid dle^^class Tile ennui is represented Hy tHe“Bunday. a^ want by the six week-days.
Thus between desiring and attaining all human flqjys on"”fKfougIiout The wish is, in its nature, pain;
p. 405
the attainment soon besets satiety : the end was only apparent; possession takes away the charinj['the w^, the neeS! presents iteelf under a new form ; when^t%oes not, then follows desplateness. emptiness, ennui, against wETch the conflict is .just as painful as against^ant. That wish and satisfaction should foIlo^eacK other neiflier too quickly nor too~s!o\^ reduces the suffering, which both occasion to~~tE^ smallest am6miit.~irnd coniti tubes the happiest life. For that which we might otherwise cainEe'mosl'Beautiful part of life, its purp..st pv. if it were only because it lifts us out of real existen^ jtnd. transforms us~ IHio'*'Hrsmterested spectators of it — that is, pure knowledge,' which is foreigirTo"alI"wiiring7the pleasure of the beautiful, the true delight in art — this is granted' only to a very few, because it demands rare talents, and to tbeiaJ£3£LiaJ£.aa Ji. Passing, dre^^^ And then, even these few, on account of their higher intellectual power, are made susceptible of far ipreater suSenng than duller mii^s can ever fed, and are also placed in lonely isolation by a nature which is obviously diffbrent from that of others ; thus here also accounts are squared. But m of men pprdy pleasures are not accessible. They are almost quite incapable of the joyO^icE lie in pure knowledge. They are” raSrely "^ven™li|) "to' ir,"EKereforft anything js^io win their sympathy, to be interesting to them, it must (as is implied in the meaning of the word) in sotae way excite their will, even if itTs only through a distant and mereTy~pfoEIematicat felatioh to it ; the will must not be left altogether out of the question,, for their p;Kist©n(jg lies far more in wiUing than in knowipg,— jiqtipn and reaction is thieir one element. We may find in trifles and "eVEfy^ay occurrences the naive expressions of this quality. Thus, for example, at any place worth seeing they may visit, they write their names, in order thus to react, to affect the place since it does not affect them. Again, when they see a strange rare animal, they cannot
4o6
THE WORLD AS WILL.
BK. IV.
easily confine themselves to merely observing it : they
-IN- II, III I.Hi, ,J||..|.» |Hji »iil|'|— .IWI****'* ' “ —*****“*'"'*" a* III! nwfi << » % must rouse_it. tease it. play wrth merely to experiCDce action and reaction ; biit &is need for excitement of the will manifests itselT very specify in the discoyery and support oi card-playing, which is quite pecj^ liarly the expression of tlie miserable side_of humanity.
But wTiat^T^natufe and jfortone may have done, whoever a inan be. imd whatever be may possessTlETre ^in which is essential to life c^not be thrown off : — TIr)\€iSr)<; 8 ipfioo^ev, i8a>p et? ovpavov evpvv (jPdides autem
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