"Not infrequently, we encounter copies of important..." - Quote by Friedrich Nietzsche
Not infrequently, we encounter copies of important human beings; and here, too, as in the case of paintings, most people prefer the copies to the originals.
More by Friedrich Nietzsche
“Whoever has overthrown an existing law of custom has always first been accounted a bad man: but when, as did happen, the law could not afterwards be reinstated and this fact was accepted, the predicate gradually changed; - history treats almost exclusively of these bad men who subsequently became good men!”
“Wisdom sets bounds even to knowledge.”
“Good manners disappear in proportion as the influence of a Court and an exclusive aristocracy lessens; this decrease can be plainly observed from decade to decade by those who have an eye for public behavior, which grows visibly.”
More on Authenticity
“Sit with lovers and choose their state. Do not stay long with those who are not living in the heart.”
“I could lecture on dry oak leaves; I could, but who would hear me? If I were to try it on any large audience, I fear it would be no gain to them, and a positive loss to me. I should have behaved rudely toward my rustling friends.”
“Many a man's reputation would not know his character if they met on the street.”
More on Human Nature
“It is right that man should love those who have offended him. He will do so when he remembers that all men are his relations, and that it is through ignorance and involuntarily that they sin,--and then we all die so soon.”
“I have never been able to conceive how any rational being could propose happiness to himself from the exercise of power over others.”
“Are you so unobservant as not to have found out that sanity and happiness are an impossible combination?”