Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) is the most famous thinker in the spirit of irrationalism and misanthropy. He called the existing world “the worst possible world,” for which he received the nickname “philosopher of pessimism.” Schopenhauer's views on human motivation and desires, on human nature, influenced many famous thinkers, including Nietzsche and Freud, and his ideas were used in one way or another in their works by Leo Tolstoy, Kafka and Borges. This book presents the most significant works of Schopenhauer, characteristic for the “philosophy of pessimism”, the bitter truth about man and the world of people, because, according to the author, they are driven primarily by hunger, fear of death and sexual instinct.