The 50 Best Quotes by Martin Heidegger

Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976) is one of the essential philosophers of the 20th century. Born in Messkirch, Germany, he studied Catholic theology, natural sciences and philosophy at the University of Freiburg, and developed philosophical theories that influenced various scientific and academic disciplines.

Along with Ludwig Wittgenstein, Heidegger is considered one of the most important thinkers of the last century.

Famous quotes by Martin Heidegger

In this article We will delve into the thoughts and reflections of this German philosopher through a tour of the best phrases of Martin Heidegger Concepts like “Dasein” are the leitmotiv of a philosophical work at the level of very few.

1. Transcendence constitutes individuality.

An ambiguous phrase from his work “Being and Time”.

2. Anguish is the fundamental disposition that places us before nothing.

A psychological reflection about anguish and its look at the infinite void.

3. The human body is something essentially different from an animal organism.

In this phrase by Martin Heidegger we discover his anthropocentric positioning.

4. Very soon television, to exercise its sovereign influence, will cover in every direction all the machinery and all the bustle of human relations.

As George Orwell would say, the media makes us prisoners of hegemonic thinking. A premonitory reflection by the German philosopher.

5. Ways, not works.

Thought to the reader’s free interpretation.

6. Mortals dwell to the extent that they receive heaven as heaven; to the extent that they let the sun and the moon continue their journey, the stars their route, the seasons of the year their blessing and their insult; to the extent that they do not turn night into day, nor make day a race without rest.

Here he shows us the fragility of human action. The way is in acceptance.

7. The distinctive thing about metaphysical thinking – which seeks the foundation of the entity – is that, starting from the present, it represents it in its presence and shows it, from its foundation, as founded.

A look at the current of metaphysical thought.

8. Philosophy implies free mobility in thought, it is a creative act that dissolves ideologies.

Thinking and reflecting quickly destroy apriorisms and dogmas.

9. The true, whether a true thing or a true proposition, is that which agrees, that which agrees.

Defining the truth in a few words.

10. To poetize is properly to let dwell. Now, by what means do we get to have a habitation? Through building. Poetizing, like letting dwell, is a construction.

Whoever writes poetry builds a protection of his own consciousness.

11. Singing and thinking are the close trunks of poetizing. They grow from being and rise until they touch their truth.

Another phrase from Heidegger about poetry.

12. He who thinks big has to make big mistakes.

Big projects also involve big risks.

13. Man’s common sense has its own need; he asserts his legitimacy with the only weapon available to him, that is, the invocation of the “obviousness” of his aspirations and reflections.

Sometimes, the concept of “common sense” can be a way to legitimize socially well-regarded, “normal” projects and desires.

14. Everything great is in the midst of the storm.

There is no triumph without sacrifices or permanent obstacles.

15. When time is only rapidity, instantaneity and simultaneity, while the temporal, understood as a historical event, has disappeared from the existence of all peoples, then, precisely then, the questions will once again pass through this whole coven like ghosts: for what?, where?, and then what?

Does the history of the development of our societies have an “end”?

16. The great tragedy of the world is that it does not cultivate memory, and therefore forgets the teachers.

Forgetting the past condemns us to making mistakes again and again.

17. Nothing can be proven in the realm of thought; but thought can explain many things.

Heidegger’s great reflection on the limitations and potentialities of rational thought.

18. The oldest of the ancient comes to our thinking from behind and yet it is ahead of us. That is why thinking stops at the appearance of what was, and is memory.

About the paradox of memories and experience.

19. The Arts become manipulated and manipulative instruments of information.

Because of the media and hegemonic thinking, even artistic disciplines tend to homogenize and standardize their forms and content.

20. There is only a world where there is language.

A philosophical phrase that establishes language as a creator of realities, according to Martin Heidegger.

21. When a man thinks big he makes big mistakes.

We must encourage ourselves to take risks and lose the fear of making mistakes.

22. No era has known so many and so diverse things about man as ours. But in truth, what man is has never been less known.

Heidegger lived one of the most exciting and frenetic periods in the history of humanity.

23. Becoming intelligible is suicide for philosophy.

The great thinkers always made their contributions regardless of whether or not their message reached the general public.

24. Tell me how you read and I’ll tell you who you are.

A good way to get to know a person in depth.

25. Anyone can reach their full potential, those of us who are predetermined, but the path we follow is always our choice.

It is up to us to achieve all our dreams, our capabilities are infinite.

26. If I bring death into my life, recognize it and face it directly, I will be free from the anxiety of death and the meanness of life, and only then will I be free to become myself.

A very positive phrase that inspires us to leave our fears behind and move forward towards achieving our dreams.

27. The most interesting thing in our time of reflection is that we are not yet thinking.

Both Heidegger and most philosophers gave great importance to reflection.

28. We must never allow our fears or the expectations of others to establish the boundaries of our destiny. Your destiny cannot be changed, but it can be challenged.

We must build our own destiny, we will only achieve our objectives with our work.

29. Man acts as if he were the shaper and teacher of language, while, in fact, language remains man’s teacher.

An interesting way of conceiving language. As a catalyst for personalities and a shaper of people.

30. Each man is born as many men and dies as one.

People are capable of anything, the human will is very powerful.

31. Everyone is the other and no one is themselves.

Human nature, self-awareness and the way we conceive other people were some of the topics this great philosopher discussed.

32. Why are there beings at all, instead of Nothing?

A question that all important philosophers in history asked themselves.

33. Thought only begins the moment we have come to know that Reason, glorified for centuries, is the most obstinate adversary of thinking.

For centuries, reason dominated Western thought, in the later period, it changed the paradigm of thinking in modern societies.

34. Longing is the agony of the nearness of what is far away.

Human emotions and negative feelings were widely discussed by this great thinker.

35. Possible ranges higher than actual ones.

Heidegger reflected on reality and all the possible realities imaginable.

36. Why is love beyond all measure of other human possibilities so rich and such a sweet burden to one who has been struck by it? For we change ourselves into that which we love, and yet we remain ourselves. Then we would like to thank the loved one, but find nothing that would do it adequately.

A reflection on love that many will identify with.

37. Freedom is only found where there is a burden that must be assumed. In creative achievements, this burden always represents an imperative and a need that weighs heavily on man’s state of mind, which is why he becomes in a state of melancholy.

For Heidegger, art had a very important melancholic component.

38. All creative action resides in a feeling of melancholy, whether we are clearly aware of the fact or not, whether we talk at length about it or not.

His reflections on art, love and relationships were truly revolutionary during his time and continue to be so today.

39. Love transforms gratitude into fidelity to ourselves and unconditional faith in the Other. Thus, love constantly expands its most intimate secret. Closeness here is existence at the greatest distance from the other, the distance that does not allow anything to dissolve, but rather presents the “you” in the transparent, but “incomprehensible” revelation of the “right there.”

Love relationships are based on fidelity and gratitude towards the other person.

40. To think is to limit yourself to a single thought that one day stops like a star in the sky of the world.

We must dare to open our minds and value many other ideas and thoughts.

41. What was Aristotle’s life?” Well, the answer is in a single sentence: “He was born, he thought, he died.” And everything else is pure anecdote.

Heidegger deeply admired Aristotle and the majority of philosophers who changed the history of thought long before he himself.

42. Being a poet in an indigent time means: attending, singing, in the footsteps of the fugitive gods. That is why the poet in the time of the night of the world pronounces the holy.

Heidegger reflected on all the actors in modern life, both in the field of the arts and daily life.

43. The human being is not the lord of beings, but the shepherd of being.

A conception of humanity very consistent with the time in which he lived.

44. There is no empty word, only one that is worn out but remains full.

Some of his linguistic and philosophical reflections are currently widely studied in the faculties of various disciplines.

45. Temporality temporalizes as a future that becomes present in the process of having been.

Some of his approaches are presented as poems or haikus.

46. ​​Poets are at the forefront of a changed conception of being.

Heidegger was obsessed with art, and especially with the poets of his time.

47. Philosophy, then, is not a doctrine, it is not a simplistic scheme to orient oneself in the world, it is certainly not an instrument or achievement of human Dasein.

Heidegger revolutionized the philosophical thought of his time and is still one of the most studied thinkers today.

48. Only he who already understands can listen.

An approach that we can use daily in our daily lives, both in ourselves and in others.

49. We came too late for the gods and too early to be.

Some of their approaches offer very negative visions about human beings.

50. Man dies constantly until the moment of his disappearance.

A truly negativistic phrase full of regret.