Lou Andreas-Salome Quotes on Life
Lou Andreas-Salome was a Russian-born German writer, philosopher, and psychoanalyst, whose intimate intellectual companionship with Friedrich Nietzsche, Paul Ree, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Sigmund Freud placed her at the center of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century European thought. This page collects quotes attributed to Lou Andreas-Salome on the topic of life, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Lou Andreas-Salome:
“Health and illness are not opposites; they are the two faces of every life.”
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Attributed to Lou Andreas-Salome:
“A philosophy that has not first been lived has not yet been thought.”
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“As truly as I'd love a friend, I always have loved you, riddling life, whether I've laughed with you or wept, whether you have brought me pleasure or strife. Even in your sorrow I love you, and, when you scatter me through space, I will tear myself out of your arms as a friend from a dear friend's embrace. With all my strength I cling to you! Let all your fire enkindle me. Even in the heat of battle, let me unravel your mysteries. Thousands of years to live and think! In your arms I long to remain. And, when you have no more joy to give -- very well -- you still have your pain.”
A Prayer to Life" (Lebensgebet), 1880; translation by Frank Beck, 2015 -
“A Prayer to Life" (Lebensgebet), 1880; translation by Frank Beck, 2015”
As truly as I'd love a friend, I always have loved you, riddling life, whether I've laughed with you or wept, whether you have brought me pleasure or strife. Even in your sorrow I love you, and, when you scatter me through space, I will tear myself out of your arms as a friend from a dear friend's embrace. With all my strength I cling to you! Let all your fire enkindle me. Even in the heat of batt -
“I can neither live according to models, nor shall I ever be able to provide a model for anyone else. On the contrary, what I shall quite certainly do is to shape my own life according to myself, whatever may come of it. In this I have no principle to put forth, but something much more wonderful -- something that is within oneself and is hot with sheer life, and rejoices and wants to come out.”
Letter to her former teacher, Hendrik Gillot, March 26, 1882; translation by Frank Beck, 2022