Available instantly

Hardcover
$17.86 - $23.58

Paperback
$14.37

$14.37 with 10 percent savings

List Price: $16.00

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns

FREE delivery Thursday, July 3 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35

Or Prime members get FREE delivery Tomorrow, June 29. Order within 8 hrs 31 mins.

In Stock

$$14.37 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Enhancements you chose aren't available for this seller. Details

${cardName} not available for the seller you chose

${cardName} unavailable for quantities greater than ${maxQuantity}.

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Payment

Secure transaction

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

$9.90

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns

Used book in good and clean conditions. Pages and cover are intact. Limited notes marks and highlighting may be present. May show signs of normal shelf wear and bends on edges. Item may be missing CDs or access codes. May include library marks. Ships directly from Amazon. Used book in good and clean conditions. Pages and cover are intact. Limited notes marks and highlighting may be present. May show signs of normal shelf wear and bends on edges. Item may be missing CDs or access codes. May include library marks. Ships directly from Amazon. See less

FREE delivery Thursday, July 3 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35

Or Prime members get FREE delivery Monday, June 30. Order within 2 hrs 31 mins.

Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

$$14.37 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Enhancements you chose aren't available for this seller. Details

${cardName} not available for the seller you chose

${cardName} unavailable for quantities greater than ${maxQuantity}.

Sold by KRM Solutions and Fulfilled by Amazon.

Other sellers on Amazon

New & Used (48) from $7.15 & FREE Shipping

Image Unavailable

Image not available for
Color:

To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

Arthur Schopenhauer

Follow

Essays and Aphorisms (Penguin Classics) Paperback – May 30, 1973

by Arthur Schopenhauer (Author), R. J. Hollingdale (Translator, Introduction)

606 ratings

See all formats and editions

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$14.37","priceAmount":14.37,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"14","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"37","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"pYVr720hcpW2HsFD0RX4Sb69jlw9CCdxY8jGnMGR9j3rOHOPBzc4sQHz9sdaTsg4fW9mdWK6rm6E9SsennCSvtoA5%2B1rxgnfSMoZfK4RoQ42c11JbRhf6DXomEl8BOm3HH%2FyMGT05%2FM%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$9.90","priceAmount":9.90,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"9","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"90","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"pYVr720hcpW2HsFD0RX4Sb69jlw9CCdxFiGkFkmIAHYfkCR8durIceFltZ%2BortoVyfi7e%2F5S8jOBKxrThiDknOpH5lODcgJsEeBj%2BZStZ0rPGEaUT7oJqDAxUoF3NuwucKd8eUAd2U1azlUCZ41vbJD8oo%2FY8nEvNWnnWs00N2C8vDQEN2HUyrySGH6BjWmR","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

This selection of thoughts on religion, ethics, politics, women, suicide, books, and much more is taken from Schopenhauer's last work, Parerga and Paralipo-mena, published in 1851.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Arthur Schopenauer was born in Danzig in 1788, where his family, of Dutch origin, owned one of the most respected trading houses. In 1793 the business moved to Hamburg, and in 1805 Arthur, who was expected to inherit it, was apprenticed as a clerk to another Hamburg house. He hated the work, so in 1807, two years after his father’s suicide and the sale of the business, he enrolled at the grammar school at Gotha. In 1809 he entered Göttingen University to study medicine and science; the following year he took up philosophy. In 1811 he transferred to Berlin to write his doctoral thesis (1813). During the next four years he lived in Dresden and wrote The World as Will and Idea (1818), a complete exposition of his philosophy. Although the book failed to sell, Schopenhauer’s belief in his own philosophy sustained him through twenty-five years of frustrated desire for fame. During his middle life, he traveled widely in Europe. In 1844 he brought out a greatly expanded edition of his book, which after his death became one of the most widely read of all philosophical works. His fame was established in 1851 with the publication of Parerga and Paralipomena, a large collection of essays, dialogues and aphorisms. From 1833 until his death from a heart attack in 1860 he lived in Frankfurt-am-Main.

R. J. Hollingdale has translated eleven of Nietzsche’s books and published two books about him. He has also translated works by, among others, Schopenhauer, Goethe, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Lichtenberg and Theodor Fontane, many of these for the Penguin Classics. He is Honorary President of the British Nietzsche Society, and was for the Australian academic year 1991 Visiting Fellow at Trinity College, Melbourne.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Classics
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 30, 1973
Edition ‏ : ‎ Revised ed.
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0140442278
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140442274
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.8 ounces
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.74 x 5.06 x 0.6 inches
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 12 and up

Best Sellers Rank: #60,061 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #45 in Individual Philosophers (Books)
- #65 in Modern Western Philosophy
- #136 in Essays (Books)

Customer Reviews:
606 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

Customer reviews

606 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Review this product

Write a customer review

Customers say

Customers find this book to be a wonderful introduction to a 19th century philosophical genius, with one customer noting it's the best book on the subject of man. The readability receives mixed feedback, with some finding it very readable while others find it tough to read.

Select to learn more

Philosophy Readability

24 customers mention "Philosophy"23 positive1 negative

Customers appreciate the philosophical content of the book, describing it as a wonderful introduction to a 19th-century philosophical genius and one of the best books on the subject of man.

"...This book can and will change your life and perspective on why things are the way they are...." Read more

"...This book is great literature as well as original philosophy, the writing is so incredibly clear, crystal clear, actually - a straightforward, easy-..." Read more

"...pessimistic thinker but he is nonetheless interesting and engaging in his points of view...." Read more

"...only improved my reading comprehension, but successfully added new thoughts and perspectives to my life. Also maybe depression haha." Read more

11 customers mention "Readability"7 positive4 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's readability, with some finding it very readable while others find it pretty tough to read.

"...The writing is extremely easy to understand for anyone. This book can and will change your life and perspective on why things are the way they are...." Read more

"...overall i liked it but some of the wording didn't make sense to me and i think that is the fault of the translator" Read more

"...is great literature as well as original philosophy, the writing is so incredibly clear, crystal clear, actually - a straightforward, easy-to-follow,..." Read more

"...While AS is a significant philosopher the writing here is very accessible (if not commonplace in its attitudes)...." Read more

Reviews with images

See all photos

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.

Ali
My favorite book.
Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2025
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This edition of his larger work, Parerga and Paralipomena, is phenomenal. The writing is extremely easy to understand for anyone. This book can and will change your life and perspective on why things are the way they are. I will say, though, do not read this book and expect a politically correct take on everything. Man will always be a product of his environment and time period, but truth remains untouched and can only be tapped into temporarily by people of all eras. Look for the truth.

Read more

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Report
Glenn Russell
Schopenhauer at his best
Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2013
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Arthur Schopenhauer wrote his essays and aphorisms in the financial hub city of Frankford, Germany during the mid-nineteenth century, a world where business owners and financiers ruthlessly competed against one another to amass fortunes, clerks chained to their desks toiled twelve hours a day, uneducated day laborers ground themselves down into faceless, mindless cogs of the urban wheel, and upper class ladies strolled the streets with parasols as they chattered incessantly over petty concerns - but, no matter what one's station in life - ruthless financial baron, toiling clerk, chattering lady or manual drudge - the monotonous hum of this bustling society gave few people encouragement or mental space to think independently or reflect philosophically. But no hustle and bustle for Arthur. Inheriting the family fortune and thus freed from any obligation to work for a living, Schopenhauer became a life-long bachelor and independent scholar, keeping his distance from other people as if they were a colony of doltish, novel-reading lepers. And, thus, after rousing in the morning and before playing the flute, partaking of lunch, and going for his two hour walk with his pet poodle, Schopenhauer sat at his desk, completely dedicating his time to writing. And this collection is Schopenhauer at his hyper-arrogant best, as self-appointed genius and highbrow aesthete, shooting verbal barbs and passing harsh judgment on everyone and everything in sight - would-be philosophers, journalists, bookworms, scholars, literati, historians, women, among numerous others.

This book is great literature as well as original philosophy, the writing is so incredibly clear, crystal clear, actually - a straightforward, easy-to-follow, elegant prose. What a switch from hopelessly dry, turgid, stale academic philosophy with its endless references, footnotes and qualifications. On the topic of books and writing, here is a quote which is vintage Schopenhauer: "The thoughts a man is capable of always express themselves in clear, comprehensible and unambiguous words. Those who put together difficult, obscure, involved, ambiguous discourses do not really know what they want to say: they have no more than a vague consciousness of it which is only struggling towards a thought; often, however, they also want to conceal from themselves and others that they actually have nothing to say." Keep this in mind the next time you read an incomprehensible piece of writing - in truth, the burden is on the writer to make their thoughts clear, no matter how impressive the author's credentials.

Among the topics address is aesthetics. As always, Schopenhauer never dances around an issue but goes right to the heart of the matter and tells it like it is. Here is what he has to say on opera: "Strictly speaking one could call opera an unmusical invention for the benefit of unmusical minds." For anybody with a keen interest in listening to music, these words have a very honest ring.

Here is a quote that is especially appropriate to our current age of information: "Students and learned men of every kind and every ago go as a rule in search of information, not insight. They make it a point of honor to have information about everything . . . When I see how much these well-informed people know, I sometimes say to myself: Oh, how little such a one must have had to think about, since he has had so much time for reading!" The truth of this statement is compounded with the omnipresence of the internet.

One more quote, this one capsulizing Schopenhauer's famous pessimistic view of life: "No rose without a thorn. But many a thorn without a rose." Even if you don't agree, you have to admire a brilliant, memorable metaphor. If you are new to Schopenhauer or philosophy, R. J. Hollindale provides an introduction which includes a mini-history of philosophy leading up to Schopenhauer, the cultural, literary and social context of Germany in the nineteenth century, as well as a mini-biography of Schopenhauer. This will be all you will need to have a rich appreciation for one of the most lucid and influential philosophers in the Western tradition.

Read more

73 people found this helpful

Helpful

Report
Richard B. Schwartz
A Unique 19thc Voice.
Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2021
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
This is not a selection of AS's works but rather a selection from a single work, PARERGA AND PARALIPOMENA (1851), though AS makes reference therein to his major work, THE WORLD AS WILL AND REPRESENTATION. The book is divided into 'essays' and 'aphorisms', though some of the essay sections contain subdivisions that are quite brief and some of the aphorisms sections extend to essay length. While AS is a significant philosopher the writing here is very accessible (if not commonplace in its attitudes). AS is often characterized as a dark and pessimistic thinker but he is nonetheless interesting and engaging in his points of view. The introduction by R.J. Hollingdale is very helpful in placing this work in the larger contexts of its times, of AS's life and the totality of his oeuvre.

He is a master of the bon-mot. Two examples:

"If you want to know how you really feel about someone take note of the impression an unexpected letter from him makes on you when you first see it on the doormat" (p. 171).

"Great minds are related to the brief span of time during which they live as great buildings are to a little square in which they stand: you cannot see them in all their magnitude because you are standing too close to them" (p. 226).

While many commentators warn readers about AS's gloominess I find him somewhat uplifting. He never shies away from saying what he believes. He talks about subjects that other philosophers might hesitate to discuss and when the times are trying he reinforces the feelings about the world and its inhabitants which you are trying to resist. Several things to keep in mind: he idolizes Kant, is generally contemptuous of Hegel and he believes that his thought was never recognized in the manner which it deserved. The latter feeling undergirds a number of his trenchant, pungent and engaging comments on the world of literature, letters and philosophy.

A familiarity (even a brief one) with AS's thought is an essential part of one's philosophic education.

Read more

27 people found this helpful

Helpful

Report
David T.
Easy to read translation
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2012
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
The two people I found most interesting in Durant's Story of Philosophy were Schopenhauer and Spinoza. Reading Spinoza kind of scares me so I decided to read Schopenhauer first. I don't really know very much about philosophy and don't know the correct way to approach these texts. For the most part I don't see the world the same way as him, he's far too negative, but I do find his writing interesting. He's also extremely sexist or perhaps just plain anti female, I'd sometimes show his anti women remarks to my girlfriend while grinning just to get a rise out of her. As for the book itself, Hollingdale seems to have done a good translation, or at least it seemed very readable. The biggest negatives are there are very few textual notes and sometimes the non German text wasn't translated.

Read more

10 people found this helpful

Helpful

Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

ian ironside
great
Reviewed in Australia on August 13, 2023
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

great

Read more
Report
Patrick Sullivan
Well Worth Reading
Reviewed in Canada on June 2, 2014
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Schopenhauer has a very rare quality; he gets straight to the point. Most authors of philosophy, stretch their ideas out over hundreds of pages. Schopenhauer presents his ideas in a straight forward, meat and potatoes fashion. The reader may not agree, with everything Schopenhauer has to say. Religious people will find his view on religion, to be very offensive. Schopenhauer is also, an in your face misogynist. Yet he also delivers some very interesting insights on; ethics, politics, the law, books, individuals, and society.

The material content has been reviewed by other readers. I won`t bother adding to the list. I will say that Schopenhauer is a pleasure to read. I also give his essays and aphorisms the highest recommendation.

Read more
Report
ancient dynasty
Good book but looks like it was handled roughly
Reviewed in Mexico on September 12, 2018
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Excelente libro, la edición me gustó mucho aunque la letra e impresión podrian ser mejores. No tenia plastico protector por lo que tenia algunas orillas raspadas.

Read more
Report
Translate review to English
SonOfZeus
All hail our Prophet and Saviour Schopenhauer (PBUH)
Reviewed in India on May 11, 2025
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I would go as far to say that Schopenhauer is the most important and the only philosopher who really matters. No one in the history of European philosophy ever confronted the problem of existence with the vision of grounded reality. You had morons like Plato, Kant and Hegel who were creating these idealistic worlds and coating their works with incomprehensible language and declaring they had solved everything. You had a few noble yet failed souls like Kierkegaard who gave up to Theology. Yet it was Schopenhauer who declared it was all meaningless and humans weren’t special beings, we were at the mercy of the irrational life force— Will. He said the Will manifests itself as in reproduction which predated Darwin’s Evolutionary Theory which is just an extension of Schopy’s philosophy.

That said, this man’s work is brilliant and this book is no exception. I honestly loved the cover, feels quite classy and the print quality is good too. Love to Penguin! A

Read more

SonOfZeus

All hail our Prophet and Saviour Schopenhauer (PBUH)

Reviewed in India on May 11, 2025
I would go as far to say that Schopenhauer is the most important and the only philosopher who really matters. No one in the history of European philosophy ever confronted the problem of existence with the vision of grounded reality. You had morons like Plato, Kant and Hegel who were creating these idealistic worlds and coating their works with incomprehensible language and declaring they had solved everything. You had a few noble yet failed souls like Kierkegaard who gave up to Theology. Yet it was Schopenhauer who declared it was all meaningless and humans weren’t special beings, we were at the mercy of the irrational life force— Will. He said the Will manifests itself as in reproduction which predated Darwin’s Evolutionary Theory which is just an extension of Schopy’s philosophy.

That said, this man’s work is brilliant and this book is no exception. I honestly loved the cover, feels quite classy and the print quality is good too. Love to Penguin! A

Images in this review

Report
Maroš Baran
good servise
Reviewed in France on September 4, 2018
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
book arrived 1 day later, but its all good, thank you!

Read more
Report

See more reviews

Buy new:

Save with Used - Good

Follow the author

Essays and Aphorisms (Penguin Classics) Paperback – May 30, 1973

Purchase options and add-ons

Frequently bought together

More items to explore

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Product details

Videos

About the author

Arthur Schopenhauer

Customer reviews

Review this product

Customers say

Select to learn more

Images in this review

Reviews with images

Schopenhauerian

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Schopenhauer at his best

5.0 out of 5 stars A Unique 19thc Voice.

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy to read translation

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars great

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Worth Reading

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book but looks like it was handled roughly

5.0 out of 5 stars All hail our Prophet and Saviour Schopenhauer (PBUH)

All hail our Prophet and Saviour Schopenhauer (PBUH)

Images in this review

4.0 out of 5 stars good servise

My favorite book.

Schopenhauer at his best

A Unique 19thc Voice.

Easy to read translation

great

Well Worth Reading

Good book but looks like it was handled roughly

All hail our Prophet and Saviour Schopenhauer (PBUH)

good servise