Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes
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That the world is not the embodiment of an eternal rationality can be conclusively proved by the fact that the piece of the worldthat we know--I mean our human reason--is not so very rational. And if it is not eternally and completely wise and rational, then the rest of the world will not be either; here the conclusion a minori ad majus, a parte ad totum applies, and does so with decisive force.
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There will be but few people who, when at a loss for topics of conversation, will not reveal the more secret affairs of their friends.
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Speaking generally, punishment hardens and numbs, it produces concentration, it sharpens the consciousness of alienation, it strengthens the power of resistance.
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If you wish to understand a philosopher, do not ask what he says, but find out what he wants.
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He who has attained the freedom of reason to any extent cannot, for a long time, regard himself otherwise than as a wanderer on the face of the earth - and not even as a traveler towards a final goal, for there is no such thing. But he certainly wants to observe and keep his eyes open to whatever actually happens in the world; therefore he cannot attach his heart too firmly to anything individual; he must have in himself something wandering that takes pleasure in change and transitoriness.
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Is man one of God's blunders? Or is God one of man's blunders?
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Men seldom persevere in a vocation unless they believe or can convince themselves that it is fundamentally more important than anyother calling. Women are the same with their lovers.
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Sometimes it just takes stronger eyeglasses to cure those who are in love--and someone with the ability to imagine a face or a figure twenty years older might perhaps pass through life quite undisturbed.
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Man demands truth and fulfills this demand in moral intercourse with other men; this is the basis of all social life. One anticipates the unpleasant consequences of reciprocal lying. From this there arises the duty of truth. We permit epic poets to lie because we expect no detrimental consequences in this case. Thus the lie is permitted where it is considered something pleasant. Assuming that it does no harm, the lie is beautiful and charming.
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Christianity remains to this day the greatest misfortune of humanity.
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It is only because man believes himself to be free, not because he is free, that he experiences remorse and pricks of conscience.
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Many deeds are done so as to forget another deed: there are also opiate activities. I exist so that another will be forgotten.
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When we cannot stand certain people, we try to have suspicions about them.
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Without the errors involved in the assumptions of ethics, man would have remained an animal. Thus has he taken himself as something higher and imposed rigid laws upon himself.
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The aphorism in which I am the first master among Germans, are the forms of 'eternity'; my ambition is to say in ten sentences what everyone else says in a book - what everyone else does not say in a book.
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Knowing things halfway is a greater success than knowing things completely: it takes things to be simpler than they really are andso makes its opinions more easily understandable and persuasive.
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Man and man's earth are unexhausted and undiscovered. Wake and listen! Verily, the earth shall yet be a source of recovery. Remain faithful to the earth, with the power of your virtue. Let your gift-giving love and your knowledge serve the meaning of the earth.
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Those who create are hard of heart.
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What makes one heroic? - Going out to meet at the same time one's highest suffering and one's highest hope.
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One who has given up any hope of winning a fight or has clearly lost it wants his style in fighting to be admired all the more.
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In our interactions with people, a benevolent hypocrisy is frequently required--acting as though we do not see through the motivesof their actions.
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On every parable you ride to every truth.
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Triumph depends on a roll of Fate's dice; the ultimate prize is a place in Heaven.
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They muddy the water, to make it seem deep.