Arthur Schopenhauer
Portrait of young Arthur Schopenhauer This German philosopher, born in 1788 in Dantzig, traveled a lot with his parents. His merchant father wanted to educate him with travels, like Michel de Montaigne. So he visited Holland, England, France.
The Horses of Saint-Mark in... Paris
“It is in Paris, in the Tuileries Gardens (Les Tuileries were a formal Royal Residence in Paris) that on the gate, in front of the castle, there are the famous four horses which Bonaparte brought back from Venice and who always accompanied the conquerors.
But I do not think they are as extraordinary as I had imagined them”
Arthur Schopenhauer
This written note at the age of 15 years in his diary already announces critical attitude and frankness from the one who will write “The World as Will and Representation”
The Love of Schopenhauer for Teresa
After having published this book (which will not be sold before long), he leaves for Italy. In 1818, during his second journey to Venice before coming back in Germany, he has a loving adventure with Teresa.In Venice, his fear at being cuckold by... Lord Byron
Portrait of Lord Byron Here is Arthur Schopenhauer (who does not mince his words to criticize or to make fun of his colleagues’ philosophers) confesses to his friend Von Hornstein:
“Goethe had given me a letter of introduction for Byron.
I was to deliver it to him, in Venice. As I went for a walk on Lido with my beloved lady, she exclaimed, with depths of emotion:
“Ecco! il poeta inglese!” (Here! The English Poet!).
At this instant, Byron was horseriding in front of us, and my lady could not, of all day, forget his appearance.
I decided then not to hand this letter from Goethe to Byron, so much I was afraid of being cuckold.
I regret it.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Venice and Love, an Endless Story!
It is as well in Venice, that this pessimist (author of a book about the freedom of human will and on the fundament of moral philosophy) felt his love tremble when a seducer went past...Venice, city of Love, which would doubt it? Even not the pessimists!
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