Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes

“The advocates of a criminal are seldom artists enough to turn the beautiful terribleness of the deed to the advantage of the doer.”

“Comparing man and woman on the whole, one may say: woman would not possess a genius for ornamentation if she did not also possessan instinct for the secondary role.”

“It has therewith come to be recognized that the history of moral valuations is at the same time the history of an error, the error of responsibility, which is based upon the error of the freedom of will.”

“In praise there is more obtrusiveness than in blame.”

“Not by wrath does one kill, but by laughter.”

“The genius-in work and in deed-is necessarily a squanderer: the fact that he spends himself constitutes his greatness.”

“Thus the will to power strives towards oppositions, towards displeasure. There is a will to suffering at the foundation of all organic life (contrary to "happiness" as "goal").”

“Creating-that is the great salvation from suffering, and life's alleviation. But for the creator to appear, suffering itself is needed, and much transformation.”

“Books for general reading always smell bad; the odor of common people hangs around them.”

“We deceive ourselves when giving respect to the person for whom we have surrendered ourselves, when we respectively expect them to be as we would wish them to be.”

“Examine the life of the best and most productive men and nations, and ask yourselves whether a tree which is to grow proudly skywards can dispense with bad weather and storms. Whether misfortune and opposition, or every kind of hatred, jealousy, stubbornness, distrust, severity, greed, and violence do not belong to the favourable conditions without which a great growth even of virtue is hardly possible?”

“Ye shall only have foes to be hated; but not foes to be despised: ye must be proud of your foes.”

“In this state one enriches everything out of one's own fullness: whatever one sees, whatever wills is seen swelled, taut, strong, overloaded with strength. A man in this state transforms things until they mirror his power—until they are reflections of his perfection. This having to transform into perfection is—art.”

“He who possesses greatness is cruel towards his secondary virtues and considerations.”

“Chastity is a virtue with some, but with many it is almost a vice.”

“He who laughs best today, will also laughs last.”

“Love ever your neighbour as yourselves - but first be such as love themselves.”

“All truths are bloody truths to me.”

“Whoever possesses the will to suffering within himself has a different attitude towards cruelty: he does not regard it as inherently harmful and bad.”

“Modern marriage has lost its meaning--consequently it is being abolished.”

“Every attainment, every step forward in knowledge, follows from courage, from hardness against oneself, from cleanliness in relation to oneself.”

“It's not the intensity of the man, but the duration of his intensity that makes the man great.”

“Every word is a prejudice.”

“One can lie with the mouth, but with the accompanying grimace one nevertheless tells the truth.”

“A very popular error: having the courage of one's convictions; rather it is a matter of having the courage for an attack on one's convictions.”

“The usual false conclusions of mankind are these: a thing exists, therefore it has a right to exist.”

“The best belongs to me and mine; and if we are not given it, we take it: the best food, the purest sky, the most robust thoughts, the fairest women!”

“The value of many men and books rests solely on their faculty for compelling all to seek out the most hidden and intimate things.”

“Either one does not dream, or one does so interestingly. One should learn to spend one's waking life in the same way: not at all, or interestingly.”

“To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.”

“A woman's pity, which is talkative, carries the sick person's bed to the public marketplace.”

“Idleness is the beginning of all psychology. What? Could it be that psychology is ? a vice?”

“I love him whose soul is lavish, who wanteth no thanks and doth not give back: for he always bestoweth, and desireth not to keep for himself.”

“A certain type of person strives to become a master over all, and to extend his force, his will to power, and to subdue all that resists it. But he encounters the power of others, and comes to an arrangement, a union, with those that are like him: thus they work together to serve the will to power. And the process goes on.”

“He who has always spared himself much will in the end become sickly of so much consideration. Praised be what hardens!”

“Once we have found ourselves, we must understand how from time to time to lose--and then to find--ourselves once again: assuming,that is, that we are thinkers. For a thinker it is a drawback to be bound to a single person all the time.”

“The architect represents neither a Dionysian nor an Apollinian condition: here it is the mighty act of will, the will which moves mountains, the intoxication of the strong will, which demands artistic expression. The most powerful men have always inspired the architects; the architect has always been influenced by power.”

“I love him who is ashamed when the dice fall in his favour, and who then asketh: "Am I a dishonest player?" - for he is willing to succumb.”

“When a man is in love he endures more than at other times; he submits to everything.”

“Master-morality and Slave-morality.”

“The public easily confuses him who fishes in troubled waters with him who draws up water from the depths.”

“A sure way to irritate people and to put evil thoughts into their heads is to keep them waiting a long time. This makes them immoral.”

“A good aphorism is too hard for the tooth of time, and is not worn away by all the centuries, although it serves as food for every epoch.”

“We are more pained when one of our friends is guilty of something shameful than when we do it ourselves.”

“There is sense in hoping for recognition in a distant future only when we take it for granted that mankind will remain essentially unchanged, and that whatever is great is not for one age only but will be looked upon as great for all time.”

“When marrying, ask yourself this question: Do you believe that you will be able to converse well with this person into your old age? Everything else in marriage is transitory.”

“People who comprehend a thing to its very depths rarely stay faithful to it forever. For they have brought its depths into the light of day: and in the depths there is always much that is unpleasant to see.”

“Everyone becomes brave when he observes one who despairs.”

“The quality of a marriage is proven by its ability to tolerate an occasional "exception.”

“Man, however, is the most courageous animal: thereby has he overcome every animal. With sound of triumph has he overcome every pain; human pain, however, is the sorest pain.”