Most People’s Opinions Are Worthless — Arthur Schopenhauer

Arthur Schopenhauer’s central warning is blunt: most people’s opinions are a poor foundation for a happy life, and chasing approval often turns a person into a performer who sacrifices what actually matters. He ranks the sources of human happiness in a hierarchy—“what a man is,” “what a man has,” and “how a man stands in the estimation of others”—and argues that reputation, status, and praise sit at the bottom. Health, temperament, morals, and education shape inner well-being far more than possessions do, and possessions matter mainly when they satisfy basic needs. Reputation, by contrast, is driven by a desire for validation that can never reliably deliver genuine contentment.

That obsession with being seen creates a psychological reversal: other people’s judgments start to feel like “real existence,” while one’s own consciousness becomes “shadowy” and secondary. The result is a life organized around external cues—dressing, consuming, and even practicing beliefs not because they fit personal values, but because they win admiration. Schopenhauer frames this as “slavish regard for what other people will say,” a form of self-subjugation where character and interests become tools for approval. The transcript illustrates the pattern with everyday examples: children seeking praise, students and employees tailoring themselves to authority figures, and adults curating success through bragging, social media self-promotion, and status purchases. Even relationships can be distorted—people may choose partners based on how the pairing looks to others, treating someone as an image rather than a person.

The cost is practical as well as moral. When reputation becomes the goal, money and time get redirected toward signaling—buying an unaffordable home, driving an expensive car, working overtime or taking on debt to maintain an appearance. Inner peace erodes because the person is no longer living for their own convictions; they’re managing an audience. Schopenhauer’s critique extends beyond the psychology of approval-seeking to the quality of the opinions being chased. He portrays most widely shared views as superficial, error-prone, and often fueled by emotion, anger, or the desire to attack opponents rather than engage in constructive dialogue. Online comment culture becomes a modern example of this dynamic: anonymous trolls and self-assured commenters reject experts, defend their claims aggressively, and say harmful things when consequences are absent.

So what should replace the pursuit of applause? Schopenhauer’s prescription is to lower the value placed on other people’s judgments by recognizing their unreliability and treating the chase itself as a “universal folly.” External validation may feel rewarding, but it rarely pays real bills—applause doesn’t put food on the table, compliments don’t cover rent, and status objects don’t substitute for a stable inner life. Happiness, in his view, lies within: focus on who someone is, how someone thinks and feels, and how someone lives. Choose partners for genuine desire, pursue passions rather than prestige, buy what one truly needs, and build meaning that doesn’t depend on audience expectations. In short, stop living for the eyes of others and start living for the self that experiences life.