1001Philosophers

Karl Jaspers Quotes on Life

Karl Jaspers was a 20th-century German philosopher and psychiatrist, one of the founders of existentialism and a major figure of mid-20th century European thought. This page collects quotes attributed to Karl Jaspers on the topic of life, drawn from across the philosopher's works.

Quotes

  • Attributed to Karl Jaspers:

    “Existence is not yet existence as it ought to be.”

  • Attributed to Karl Jaspers:

    “Limit-situations are situations of extreme experience: death, suffering, struggle, guilt.”

  • Attributed to Karl Jaspers:

    “Philosophy is a way of life, not a set of doctrines to be memorised.”

  • “We cannot avoid conflict, conflict with society , other individuals and with oneself. Conflicts may be the sources of defeat, lost life and a limitation of our potentiality but they may also lead to greater depth of living and the birth of more far-reaching unities , which flourish in the tensions that engender them.”

    As quoted in Turning Conflict Into Profit : A Roadmap for Resolving Personal and Organizational Disputes (2005) by Larry Axelrod and Rowland Johnson