A Philosophy of Boredom Quotes

“In order to live a meaningful life,
humans need answers, i.e., a certain understanding of basic existential questions. These ‘answers’ do not have to be made completely explicit, as a lack of words does not necessarily indicate a lack of understanding, but one has to able to place oneself in the world and build a relatively stable identity. The founding of such an identity is only possible if one can tell a relatively coherent story about who one has been and who one intends to be.”
― Lars Fr. H. Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“For Heidegger, boredom is a privileged fundamental mood because it leads us directly into the very problem complex of being and time.”
― Lars Fr. H. Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“A utopia cannot, by definition, include boredom, but the ‘utopia’ we are living in is boring.”
― Lars Fr. H. Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Self-identity is inextricably bound up with the identity of the surroundings.”
― Lars Fr. H. Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Traditions have been replaced by lifestyles.”
― Lars Fr. H. Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“One mood can be replaced by another, but it is impossible to leave attunement altogether. However, profound boredom brings us as close to a state of un-attunement as we can come.”
― Lars Fr. H. Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Animals can be understimulated, but hardly bored.”
― Lars Fr. H. Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Traditions brings continuity to one’s existence, but this sort of continuity is precisely what has been increasingly lost
throughout modernity.”
― Lars Fr. H. Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Man is a world-forming being, a being that actively constitutes his own world, but when everything is always already fully coded, the active constituting of the world is made superfluous, and we lose friction in relation to the world.We Romantics need a meaning that we ourselves realize – and the person who is preoccupied with self-realization inevitably has a meaning problem. This is no one collective meaning in life any more, a meaning that it is up to the individual to participate in. Nor is it that easy to find an own meaning in life, either. The meaning that most people embrace is self-realization as such, but it is not obvious what type of self is to be realized, nor what
should possibly result from it. The person who is certain as regards himself will not ask the question as to who he is. Only a problematic self feels the need for realization.”
― Lars Fr. H. Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Anthropocentrism gave rise to boredom, and when anthropomorphism was replaced by technocentrism, boredom became even more profound.”
― Lars Fr. H. Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Heidegger’s concept for the kind of being we ourselves are is Dasein. Literally it means ‘being-there’.We are the sort of beings who are there, in the world. What characterizes Dasein is that its existence is a concern for it in its existence.”
― Lars Fr. H. Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“To become mature is to accept that life cannot remain in the enchanted realm of childhood, that life to a certain extent is boring, but at the same time to realize that this does not make life unliveable.”
― Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“And Pascal underlined that it is not a good thing to have all one’s needs satisfied.”
― Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“your life’s most important lesson … that you are completely insignificant.”
― Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“We spontaneously relate to ourselves and the world by means of the technical object.”
― Lars Fr. H. Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Live a lie, dance forever.”
― Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Love may seem to be enough when one does not possess it, but when one has, it will always be insufficient.”
― Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“the ‘strange melancholy which often haunts the inhabitants of democratic countries in the midst of their abundance.”
― Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Time collapses, implodes, into a vast, empty present.”
― Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Only those who can truly give themselves a burden are free.”
― Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“God had a more powerful meaning-providing force than Coca-Cola and Elvis, and no matter how beautiful Marilyn Monroe was, she was hardly in the same league as the Christ’s Mother.”
― Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Diversion might seem to be preferable to the misery of life, because it can create an illusion of happiness – at least for a while.”
― Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“the person who advocates work as a cure for boredom is confusing a temporary removal of the symptoms with curing a disease.”
― Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Boredom always contains a critical element, because it expresses the idea that either a given situation or existence as a whole is deeply unsatisfying.”
― Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Diary of a Country Priest: So I said to myself that people are consumed by boredom. Naturally, one has to ponder for a while to realise this – one does not see it immediately. It is a like some sort of dust. One comes and goes without seeing it, one breathes it in, one eats it, one drinks it, and it is so fine that it doesn’t even scrunch between one’s teeth. But if one stops up for a moment, it settles like a blanket over the face and hands. One has to constantly shake this ash-rain off one. That is why people are so restless.7 It”
― Lars Fr. H. Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Samo odstupanje postalo je deo ujednačenosti. Svi danas moraju biti "nešto posebno", a da se ne ističu na bilo koji način. Odstupanje je dosadno. Kada je individualizam lagodnost, i konformizam postaje individualističan.”
― Lars Fr. H. Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Sıkıntı ütopya için bir sınır teşkil eder. Bir ütopya asla tamamen gerçekleşemez, zira gerçekleşim demek sıkıntı demektir ve bu sıkıntı sonunda tüm ütopyayı içeriden yıkar.”
― Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Sıkıntı, şeylerin kendi zamanları ile bizim onlarla karşılaştırdığımız zaman arasındaki dengesizlikten doğar. Bu, sıkıntının doğasına ilişkin bir yanıt verme denemesidir.”
― Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Yaşamak dert edinmektir: güzel güzel yaşayıp gitmek bir kaçıştır.”
― Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom

“Ağrımın yeri saptanır, oysa sıkıntı, yeri, dayanağı, şu hiçten başka hiçbir şeyi olmayan, tanımlanamaz, sizi aşındıran bir acıdır.”
― Lars Fredrik Händler Svendsen, A Philosophy of Boredom