Quotations from
philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche
[1844-1900]

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy & science, with substantial influence within and beyond philosophy, notably in existentialism, nihilism, and post-modernism. Nietzsche's works remain controversial, partly from the uniquely provocative style of his philosophical writing.

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Friedrich Nietzsche Page
at Maison d'Être Philosophy Bookstore

Friedrich Nietzsche entry at Wikipedia

Friedrich Nietzsche Society (UK)

	"Nietzsche in 90 Minutes" [1996] by Paul Strathern Ivan R. Dee, Publr 8x5 pb [10/96] for $9.95 Ivan R. Dee, Publr 9x6 hardcover [10/96] out of print/used
	"Introducing Nietzsche" [1998] by Laurence Gane & Kitty Chan Icon/Totem 8¼x5½ pb [8/2005] for $11.01 Icon/Totem 8x5½ pb [4/98] out of print/many used

“Every great philosophy [is] the personal confession of its originator,
a type of involuntary and unaware memoirs.”  {Issue #21}
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“You must carry a chaos inside you to give birth to a dancing star.”  {Issue #28}
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“Madness is rare in individuals – but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule.”  {Issue #43}
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“He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how.”  {Issue #46 & blog 9/2016}
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“One repays a teacher poorly if one remains a disciple.”  {Issue #62}
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“Every man has his price? That is not true. But for every man there exists a bait
which he cannot resist swallowing.”  {blog 9/2008}
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“Morality is the best of all devices for leading mankind by the nose.”  {blog 9/2008}
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“Two things are wanted by a true man, danger and play – therefore,
he seeks woman as the most dangerous play.”  {blog 12/2008}
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“Life becomes harder and harder as it approaches the heights – the coldness
increases, the responsibility increases.”  {blog 2/2010}
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“They muddy the water, to make it seem deep.”  {blog 5/2010}
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“This is my way. What is your way? THE way doesn't exist.”  {blog 5/2010}
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“It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what other men say in whole books, what other men
do not say in whole books.”  {blog 6/2010}
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“In the beginning was nonsense, and the nonsense was with God, and the nonsense was God.”  {blog 3/2011}
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“Which is it? Is man one of God's blunders, or is God one of man's blunders?”  {blog 3/2011}
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“The last Christian died on the cross.”  {blog 4/2011}
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“Truths are illusions [that] we have forgotten are illusions.”  {blog 1/2012}
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“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.
And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.”   {blog 1/2012}
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“I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time.”  {blog 2/2012}
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“All ideals are dangerous: because they debase and brand the actual; all are poisons,
but indispensable as temporary cures.”   {blog 2/2012}
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“Woman was God's second mistake.”  {blog 3/2012}
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“A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.”  {blog 9/2013}
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“There are no moral phenomena at all, only a moral interpretation of phenomena.”  {blog 11/2013}
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“Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.”  {blog 11/2013}
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“To live alone one must be an animal or a god, says Aristotle. There is yet a third case:
one must be both – a philosopher.”  {blog 12/2013}
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“We have art so that we may not perish by the truth.”  {blog 2/2014}
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“That which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”  {blog 4/2014}
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“Every deep thinker is more afraid of being understood than of being misunderstood.”  {blog 9/2014}
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“Should not the giver be thankful that the receiver received? Is not giving a need? Is not receiving mercy?”  {blog 9/2014}
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“Whoever despises himself nonetheless respects himself as one who despises.”  {blog 4/2015}
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“The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike
than those who think differently.”  {blog 4/2016}
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“All of life is a dispute over taste.”  {blog 6/2016}
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“There is not enough love and goodness in the world to permit giving any of it away to imaginary beings.”  {blog 10/2017}
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“The world is beautiful, but has a disease called 'man'.”  {blog 3/2018}
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“If you do not have a good father, you should procure one.”  {blog 7/2018}
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“Without beer, life would be a mistake.”  {blog 5/2022}
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“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”  {blog 1/2023}
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“I am not a man, I am dynamite.”  {blog 3/2023}

“No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life. There may be countless trails and bridges
and demigods who would gladly carry you across; but only at the price of pawning and forgoing yourself. There is one path in the world
that none can walk but you. Where does it lead? Don’t ask, walk!”  {blog 3/2023}
•      •
“There are two types of people; those who want to know and those who want to believe.”  {blog 4/2024}

Friedrich Nietzsche Quotations Not Yet Used on the Blog

"There is one thing [that] one has to have: either a soul that is cheerful by nature, or a soul made cheerful by work, love, art, and knowledge."

"Those who know that they are profound strive for clarity. Those who would like to seem profound to the crowd strive for obscurity. For the crowd believes that if it cannot see to the bottom of something it must be profound. It is so timid and dislikes going into the water." - in "The Gay Science"

"Of all that is written I love only what a man has written with his blood . . . Whoever writes in blood
and aphorisms does not want to be read but to be learned by heart."

"We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false
which was not accompanied by at least one laugh."

"I am by far the most terrible human being there has ever been; this does not mean I shall not be the most beneficent . . ."

"That which is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil."

"Mighty waters draw much stone and rubble along with them, mighty spirits many stupid and bewildered heads."

"The irrationality of a thing is no argument against its existence, rather a condition of it."

"One hears only those questions for which one is able to find answers."

"The higher we soar, the smaller we seem to those who cannot fly."

"I love the great despisers. Man is something that must be overcome."

"True, we love life, not because we are used to living but because we are used to loving. There is always
some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness."

"Why does man not see things? He is himself standing in the way: he conceals things."

"The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends."

"Ultimately, no one can extract from things, books included, more than he already knows."

"So long as you are praised think only that you are not yet on your own path but on that of another."

"We are like shop windows in which we are continually arranging, concealing. or illuminating the supposed
qualities others ascribe to us – in order to deceive ourselves."

"How can anyone become a thinker if he does not spend at least a third of the day without passions, people, and books?"

"He who considers more deeply knows that, whatever his acts and judgments may be, he is always wrong."

"Either we have no dreams or our dreams are interesting. We should learn to arrange our waking life the same way: nothing or interesting."

"Remedium amoris – The cure for love is still in most cases that ancient radical medicine: love in return."

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

"A woman does not want the truth; what is truth to women? From the beginning, nothing has been more alien, repugnant, and hostile
to woman than the truth – her great art is the lie, her highest concern is mere appearance and beauty."

"It was Christianity which first painted the devil on the world's wall; it was Christianity which first brought sin into the world. Belief in the cure
which it offered has now been shaken to its deepest roots; but belief in the sickness which it taught and propagated continues to exist."

"Out of chaos comes order."

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