Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes

There is a certain right by which we many deprive a man of life, but none by which we may deprive him of death; this is mere cruelty.

War has always been the grand sagacity of every spirit which has grown too inward and too profound; its curative power lies even in the wounds one receives.

A small revenge is more human than no revenge at all.

Growth in wisdom can be measured precisely by decline in bile.

Iron necessity is a thing which in the course of history men come to see as neither iron nor necessary.

It is a terrible thought, to contemplate that an immense number of mediocre thinkers are occupied with really influential matters.

The belief in authority is the source of conscience; which is therefore not the voice of God in the heart of man, but the voice of some men in man.

How much truth can a spirit bear, how much truth can a spirit dare? ... that became for me more and more the real measure of value.

Heavy, heavy-hearted people grow lighter and rise occasionally to their surface through precisely that which makes others heavier,through hatred and love.

Only great pain is, as the teacher of great suspicion, the ultimate liberator of the spirit...I doubt whether such pain improves us-but I do know it deepens us.

I live in my own place - have never copied anyone even half, and at any master who lacks the grace - to laugh at himself - I laugh.

We have to learn how to come out of unclean situations cleaner than we were, and even how to wash ourselves with dirty water whenwe need to.

Great indebtedness does not make men grateful, but vengeful; and if a little charity is not forgotten, it turns into a gnawing worm.

Whoever commits to paper what he suffers becomes a melancholy author: but he becomes a serious author when he tells us what he suffered and why he now reposes in joy.

Stupidity in a woman is unfeminine.

Has a woman who knew she was well-dressed ever caught a cold?

Who has not for the sake of his reputation sacrificed himself?

Virtues are dangerous as vices insofar as they are allowed to rule over one as authorities and not as qualities one develops oneself.

There is a rollicking kindness that looks like malice.

Sensuality often makes love grow too quickly, so that the root remains weak and is easy to pull out.

We praise or blame as one or the other affords more opportunity for exhibiting our power of judgement.

God remains dead. And we have killed him. Yet his shadow still looms. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?

Mystical explanations are thought to be deep; the truth is that they are not even shallow.

In praise there is more obtrusiveness than in blame.

Even today a crude sort of persecution is all that is required to create an honorable name for any sect, no matter how indifferent in itself.

When a man is ill his very goodness is sickly.

My time has not yet come either; some are born posthumously.

Your highest thought, however, ye shall have it commanded unto you by me - and it is this: man is something that is to be surpassed.

Man is something that shall be overcome.... Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman -- a rope over an abyss... What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end.

No one lies so boldly as the man who is indignant.

What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal: what there is to love in man is that he is a going-over and a going-under.

Ah, only he who knows where he sails, knows what wind is good, and a fair wind for him.

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?

The greatest progress that the human race has made lies in learning how to make correct inferences.

Of all evil I deem you capable: Therefore I want good from you. Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings who thought themselves good because they had no claws.

Compassion for the friend should conceal itself under a hard shell.

Resistance - that is the distinction of the slave. Let your distinction be obedience. Let your commanding itself be obeying!

If we train our conscience, it kisses us while it hurts

Love brings to light a lover's noble and hidden qualities-his rare and exceptional traits: it is thus liable to be deceptive of his normal qualities.

All signs of superhuman nature appear in man as illness or insanity.

Whoever has really sacrificed anything, knows that he wanted and got something in return.

The most instructive experiences are those of everyday life.

The thought of suicide is a great source of comfort: with it a calm passage is to be made across many a bad night.

You I advise not to work, but to fight. You I advise not to peace, but to victory. Let your work be a fight, let your peace be a victory!

To the mediocre, mediocrity is a form of happiness.

Willing sets you free: that is the true doctrine of will and freedom--thus Zarathustra instructs you.

If you are too weak to give yourselves your own law, then a tyrant shall lay his yoke upon you and say: "Obey! Clench your teeth and obey!" And all good and evil shall be drowned in obedience to him.

In art the end does not sanctify the means: but sacred means employed here can sanctify the end.

Art is the great stimulus to life.

What does your conscience say? — 'You should become the person you are'.