"Among human beings there is no greater..." - Quote by Friedrich Nietzsche
Among human beings there is no greater banality than death. Second in order, because it is possible to die without being born, comes birth, and next comes marriage.
More by Friedrich Nietzsche
“I can still stand on life's narrowest footing: but who would I be were I to show you this art. Would you like to see a ropedancer?”
“Brave people may be persuaded to an action by representing it as being more dangerous than it really is.”
“[Heraclitus] did not require humans or their sort of knowledge, since everything into which one may inquire he despises [as being] in contrast [to his own] inward-turning wisdom. [To him] all learning from others is a sign of nonwisdom, because the wise man focuses his vision on his own intelligence.”
More on Existence
“There is an ancient legend which warns that, should we ever learn our true origin, our universe will instantly be destroyed.”
“I have seen how the foundations of the world are laid, and I have not the least doubt that it will stand a good while.”
“Without man and his potential for moral progress, the whole of reality would be a mere wilderness, a thing in vain, and have no final purpose.”
More on Life
“After all, I quite naturally want to live in order to fulfill my whole capacity for living, and not in order to fulfill my reasoning capacity alone, which is no more than some one-twentieth of my capacity for living. What does reason know? It knows only what it has managed to learn (and it may never learn anything else; that isn't very reassuring, but why not admit it?), while human nature acts as a complete entity, with all that is in it, consciously or unconsciously; and though it may be wrong, it's nevertheless alive.”
“Life's no brief candle-it's a splendid torch!”
“One is healthy when one can laugh at the earnestness and zeal with which one has been hypnotized by any single detail of one's life.”