The Beautiful Sourness of Arthur Schopenhauer

When feeling particularly sour it is useful to compare your gloomy sentiments to what I call the Schopenhauer Scale of Sourness. 

So it begins:

Level 1: "Life is so short, questionable and evanescent that it is not worth the trouble of major effort."

Level 2: "We can regard our life as a uselessly disturbing episode in the blissful repose of nothingness."

Code Red Level 3 (Call Oprah): "It is bad today and everyday it will get worse , until the worst of all happens."

Scopenhauer was so eloquent in his sourness that he can bring a smile to my face whenever I reflect on the extremity of his misanthropy. 

Consider these gems of bitterness:

On his lack of friends and social interaction: "A man of genius can hardly be sociable, for what dialogues could indeed be so intelligent and entertaining as his own monologues?"

On women: "Only the male intellect, clouded by the sexual impulse, could call the undersized, narrow-shouldered, broad-hipped, and short-legged sex the fair sex."

And the Pièce de résistance! 

"Much would have been gained if through timely advice and instruction young people could have had eradicated from their minds the erroneous notion that the world has a great deal to offer them."

Wow, right?!

 I know that positivity is meant to create more of the good stuff but sometimes such outright bleh-the-world-sucks negativity can actually make me feel more positive because intrinsically I know it is all a bit ridiculous anyway.