“What am I? The modest narrator who accompanies your triumphs; the dancer who supports you when you rise in your lovely grace; the branch upon which you rest a moment when you are tired of flying; the bass that interposes itself below the soprano’s fervour to let it climb even higher—what am I? I am the earthly gravity that keeps you on the ground. What am I, then? Body, mass, earth, dust and ashes.—You, my Cordelia, you are soul and spirit.”—Johannes the Seducer, from_Either/Or_”

Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic, and religious writer

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic, and religious writer. He is widely regarded as the first existentialist philosopher, and he lived in the early to mid 19th century. His writing examines organized religion, Christianity, morality, ethics, psychology, love, and the philosophy of religion. He often used metaphor, irony, and parable, and his work returns again and again to the question of how a person lives as a single individual, with emphasis on authenticity, personal choice, commitment, and the duty to love.