Paul Thomas Mann:
(Lübeck, June 6, 1875 – Zurich, August 12, 1955)
Considered one of the greatest German writers of the twentieth century. His best-known works include the novels Buddenbrooks and The Magic Mountain and the novella Death in Venice. His work was strongly influenced by that of Goethe, Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. In 1929 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. He fled the German Nazi regime to Switzerland in 1936, partly because his wife, Katia Mann, had Jewish parents. From 1939 to 1952 he lived in the United States, where he became an important exponent of the struggle against fascism, and then again in Switzerland until his death.
Face to face with fanaticism itself, a freedom that no longer believes in itself out of sheer goodness and humane skepticism is lost.
Freedom exists, and also the will exists; but the freedom of the will does not exist, for a will that aims at its own freedom aims at the unknown.
> “Freedom exists, and the will also exists; but the freedom of the will does not exist…”
This distinguishes between three things:
1. Freedom exists 🕊️
There is such a thing as freedom in a practical or political sense:
you can be free to act, to speak, to move, to carry out choices.
2. The will exists 💭
People have desires, motives, inclinations, decisions: in short, a will.
3. But ‘free will’ does not exist ⚖️
According to this idea, your will itself is not free. You can do what you want, but you do not choose what you want completely freely. Your will is shaped by character, disposition, circumstances, motives, past, nature, and so on.
That aligns closely with Schopenhauer’s famous statement:
> “Man can do what he wants; but he cannot want what he wants.” “Man can do what he wants, but he cannot want what he wants.”
🔍 “A will that strives for its own freedom…”
The second part:
> “…for a will that strives for its own freedom strives for the unknown.”
means approximately:
– A will is always directed towards something: a goal, object, desire.
– But if the will wants “its own freedom,” it tries to detach itself from all motives and causes.
– Then nothing concrete remains for which it can strive.
– A completely “free” will would be a will without foundation, without motive, without direction — and that is almost a contradiction.
In other words: a will that wants to be absolutely free actually wants something indeterminate or incomprehensible.
📚 Origin and author: ✅ Thomas Mann?
The formulation is indeed often associated with Thomas Mann. In German, it circulates roughly as:
> “Freedom exists, and the will exists too; but freedom of will does not…”
📖 Schopenhauer as a source:
The idea itself, however, comes from Arthur Schopenhauer’s philosophy, especially from:
– Über die Freiheit des menschlichen Willens — 1839
In it, Schopenhauer defends the position that actions do indeed originate from the will, but that the will itself is not freely chosen.
🎯 In one sentence:
The saying means that human freedom can be real at the level of action, but that the deeper will itself, according to Schopenhauer — and in Thomas Mann’s literary formulation — is not free.
Happiness comes to those who expect it. They just have to keep the door open.
It’s hard to please the truth and the people at the same time.
Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil.
