A Sailor May Leave The Sea But The Sea Never Leaves The Sailor

From 1865 to 1868, he studied for a few years at the University of Leipzig, interrupted by military service but also interrupted by a horse accident that required a period of treatment. Under the guidance of Professor Ritschl he did a lot of good work in linguistics, especially on the works of Diogène Laoerce, who specialized in biographers of Greek philosophers. By chance one day he flipped through a book by Schopenhauer, the great pessimist philosopher, and read with passion. Father Andler wrote: “The light suddenly flared up no different than when Malebranche discovered Descartes”. Nietzsche immediately bought a few books to take home to read for two weeks in a row, minus a few hours of sleep. Suddenly he left linguistics for philosophy and submitted a thesis – which was rejected – on some aspects of Schopenhauer’s doctrine. He guided his friend, most notably Erwin Rohde, into that great pessimistic philosophy. He dreamed that, with Rohde and a few other friends, after finishing his senior year, they would go to Paris together and would present “fluffy on the boulevards idiosyncratic German and the philosophy of Schopenhauer.” But then he did not fulfill that plan.