“A landscape painter, whether he strives to produce an effect by a faithful rendering of the subject, or by a more ideal reproduction, perhaps leaves the individual cold, but such a picture as I have in mind produces an indescribable effect for the fact that one does not know whether to laugh or cry, and because the whole effect depends upon the mood of the beholder. There is surely no person who has not passed through a period when no wealth of language, no passion of exclamation was sufficient for him, when no expression, no gesticulation satisfied, when nothing contented him except to break out with the strangest leaps and somersaults. Perhaps the same individual learned to dance, perhaps he often saw ballets and admired the art of the dancer, perhaps there came a time when the ballet no longer affected him, and yet he had moments when he could retire to his room, give himself up entirely to his impulse, and feel an indescribably humoristic relief in standing upon one leg in a picturesque attitude, or in consigning the whole world to death and the devil, and accomplishing it all by a leap head over heels.”
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~Source: Repetition: An Essay In Experimental Psychology (1843)
Author: Søren Kierkegaard using the pseudonym Constantin Constantius

“I stick my finger into the world — it has no smell. Where am I? What does it mean to say: the world? What is the meaning of that word? Who tricked me into this whole thing and leaves me standing here? Who am I? How did I get into the world? Why was I not asked about it, why was I not informed of the rules and regulations but just thrust into the ranks as if I had been bought from a peddling shanghaier of human beings? How did I get involved in this big enterprise called actuality? Why should I be involved? Isn’t it a matter of choice? And if I am compelled to be involved, where is the manager — I have something to say about this. Is there no manager? To whom shall I make my complaint? After all, life is a debate — may I ask that my observations be considered?”
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~Source: Repetition: A Venture in Experimenting Psychology (1843)
Author: Søren Kierkegaard using the pseudonym Constantin Constantius

“I went out to the coffeehouse, where on the previous visit I went every day to enjoy the drink which according to the words of the poet*, if it is ‘…pure and warm and strong and not abused,’ can be placed alongside that with which the poet compares it, namely ‘friendship.’ I insist at least upon good coffee.”
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~Source: Repetition: An Essay In Experimental Psychology (1843)
Author: Søren Kierkegaard using the pseudonym Constantin Constantius

“A landscape painter, whether he strives to produce an effect by a faithful rendering of the subject, or by a more ideal reproduction, perhaps leaves the individual cold, but such a picture as I have in mind produces an indescribable effect for the fact that one does not know whether to laugh or cry, and because the whole effect depends upon the mood of the beholder. There is surely no person who has not passed through a period when no wealth of language, no passion of exclamation was sufficient for him, when no expression, no gesticulation satisfied, when nothing contented him except to break out with the strangest leaps and somersaults. Perhaps the same individual learned to dance, perhaps he often saw ballets and admired the art of the dancer, perhaps there came a time when the ballet no longer affected him, and yet he had moments when he could retire to his room, give himself up entirely to his impulse, and feel an indescribably humoristic relief in standing upon one leg in a picturesque attitude, or in consigning the whole world to death and the devil, and accomplishing it all by a leap head over heels.”
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~Source: Repetition: An Essay In Experimental Psychology (1843)
Author: Søren Kierkegaard using the pseudonym Constantin Constantius

“One enters the Konigstater Theater. One takes one’s seat in the first tier of boxes; for here there are relatively few people, and when one is to see a farce one must be seated at one’s ease, without feeling in the remotest way embarrassed by the solemn pretense of art which causes many to let themselves be jammed into a theater to see a play as if it were a question of their eternal salvation. The air in this theater is also fairly pure, not contaminated by the sweat of an audience moved by sensibility to art, or by the finer emanations of art connoisseurs. In the first tier of boxes one can be fairly sure of getting a box by oneself.” ——————————————————– ~Source: Repetition (1843) Author: Søren Kierkegaard using the pseudonym Constantin Constantius

“I stick my finger into the world — it has no smell. Where am I? What does it mean to say: the world? What is the meaning of that word? Who tricked me into this whole thing and leaves me standing here? Who am I? How did I get into the world? Why was I not asked about it, why was I not informed of the rules and regulations but just thrust into the ranks as if I had been bought from a peddling shanghaier of human beings? How did I get involved in this big enterprise called actuality? Why should I be involved? Isn’t it a matter of choice? And if I am compelled to be involved, where is the manager — I have something to say about this. Is there no manager? To whom shall I make my complaint? After all, life is a debate — may I ask that my observations be considered?”
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~Source: Repetition: A Venture in Experimenting Psychology (1843)
Author: Søren Kierkegaard using the pseudonym Constantin Constantius