"Hatred is a thing of the heart, contempt a thing of the head. Hatred and contempt are decidedly antagonistic towards one another and mutually exclusive. A great deal of hatred, indeed, has no other source than a compelled respect for the superior qualities of some other person; conversely, if you were to consider hating every miserable wretch you met you would have your work cut out: it is much easier to despise them one and all. True, genuine contempt, which is the obverse of true, genuine pride, stays hidden away in secret and lets no one suspect its existence: for if you let a person you despise notice the fact, you thereby reveal a certain respect for him, inasmuch as you want him to know how low you rate him — which betrays not contempt but hatred, which excludes contempt and only affects it. Genuine contempt, on the other hand, is the unsullied conviction of the worthlessness of another."
React to this quote
More by Arthur Schopenhauer
See allResonant Thoughts
"The issue before us is whether the 21st century belongs to China. And I would say that China will be preoccupied with enormous problems internally, domestically with its immediate environment, and tha…"
"Other causes contributed to Tolstoy's failure, but the most important of all the causes was this unmitigated individualism, which not only rendered impossible cooperation with other men, but even made…"
Explore Further
Related Quotes
"Anderson demonstrates that if one accepts a sham mystery as real, one has stopped or strayed in the search …"
— Poul Anderson"I look at those words—gang ties—and I think about all the players I’ve met in the NFL and all of us who com…"
— Richard Sherman (American football)"When I sing, I close my eyes. If I see a feather, everything is fine. Without this image in my mind, the so…"
— Sarah Brightman"The English are polite by telling lies. The Americans are polite by telling the truth."
— Malcolm Bradbury"No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without fin…"
— Nathaniel Hawthorne"It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both."
— E. B. White