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Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes

Philosopher

Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher whose radical ideas about morality, individualism, and the meaning of life have left a lasting impact on Western thought. Known for his critiques of traditional values and his concept of the "will to power," Nietzsche challenged conventional ideas about religion, society, and self-identity. The following quotes capture his provocative and often controversial views on human nature, the pursuit of greatness, and the struggle for personal freedom.
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It is a self-deception of philosophers and moralists to imagine that they escape decadence by opposing it. That is beyond their will; and, however little they acknowledge it, one later discovers that they were among the most powerful promoters of decadence.
From The Will to Power
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There have been two great narcotics in European civilisation: Christianity and alcohol.
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All that exists is just and unjust and is equally justified in both respects.
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Every moment of life wants to tell us something, but we do not want to hear what it has to say: when we are alone and quiet we are afraid that something will be whispered into our ear and hence we despise quiet and drug ourselves with sociability.
From Unpublished Writings from the Period of Unfashionable Observations
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All modern philosophizing is political, policed by governments, churches, academics, custom, fashion, and human cowardice, all of which limit it to a fake learnedness.
From Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks
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The more thoroughly a person understands life, the less he will mock, though in the end he might still mock the "thoroughness of his understanding.
From Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits
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The will to a system: expressed morally, a more refined corruption with philosophers, an illness of character; expressed unmorally, his will to appear stupider than he is. Stupider, that means stronger, simpler, more dominating, less cultured, more commanding, more tyrannical.
From The Twilight Of The Idols: Or, How To Philosophise With The Hammer By Friedrich Nietzsche - The Antichrist Notes To Zarathustra, And Eternal ... Anthony M. Ludovici And Edited By Oscar Levy
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But I need solitude--which is to say, recovery, return to myself, the breath of a free, light, playful air.
From On the Genealogy of Morals / Ecce Homo
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Since I grew weary of the search
I taught myself to find instead
Since cross winds caused my ship to lurch
I sail with all winds straight ahead.
From The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs
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To those human beings who are of any concern to me I wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities—I wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt, the torture of self-mistrust, the wretchedness of the vanquished: I have no pity for them, because I wish them the only thing that can prove today whether one is worth anything or not—that one endures.
From The Will to Power
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Marriage as a long conversation. - When marrying you should ask yourself this question: do you believe you are going to enjoy talking with this woman into your old age? Everything else in a marriage is transitory, but most of the time that you're together will be devoted to conversation.
From Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits
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The believer in magic and miracles reflects on how to impose a law on nature--: and, in brief, the religious cult is the outcome of this reflection.
From A Nietzsche Reader
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It may be that until now there has been no more potent means for beautifying man himself than piety: it can turn man into so much art, surface, play of colors, graciousness that his sight no longer makes one suffer.---
From Beyond Good and Evil
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It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!
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Madness is something rare in individuals — but in groups, parties, peoples, and ages, it is the rule.
From Beyond Good and Evil
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Man, the bravest of animals, and the one most accustomed to suffering, does not repudiate suffering as such; he desires it, he even seeks it out, provided he is shown a meaning for it, a purpose of suffering. The meaninglessness of suffering, not suffering itself, was the curse that lay over mankind so far.
From On the Genealogy of Morals
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I love him whose soul is deep, even in being wounded, and who may perish through a minor matter: thus he goes willingly over the bridge. I love him whose soul is so overfull that he forgets himself, and all things are in him: thus all things become his going under. I love him who has a free spirit and a free heart: thus his head is only the guts of his heart; his heart, however, causes his going under. I love all who are like heavy drops falling one by one out of the cloud that lowers over man: they herald the coming of the lightning, and as heralds they perish.
From Thus Spoke Zarathustra
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The tragedy is that we cannot believe the dogmas of religion and metaphysics if we have the strict methods of truth in heart and head, but on the other hand, we have become through the development of humanity so tenderly suffering that we need the highest kind of means of salvation and consolation: whence arises the danger that man may bleed to death through the truth that he realises.
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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.
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Without music, life would be a mistake.
From Twilight of the Idols
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If we have just partaken of a philosopher's wisdom, we go through the streets feeling as if we had been transformed and had become great; for we encounter only people who do not know this wisdom, and thus we have to deliver a new, unheard-of judgement about everything; because we have acknowledged a book of laws, we also think we now have to act like judges
From Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits
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One has to take a somewhat bold and dangerous line with this existence: especially as, whatever happens, we are bound to lose it.
From Untimely Meditations
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I have forgotten my umbrella.
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I tell you: one must still have chaos in oneself to give birth to a dancing star. I tell you: you still have chaos in yourselves.
From Thus Spoke Zarathustra
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It is a self-deception of philosophers and moralists to imagine that they escape decadence by opposing it. That is beyond their will; and, however little they acknowledge it, one later discovers that they were among the most powerful promoters of decadence.
From The Will to Power
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
There have been two great narcotics in European civilisation: Christianity and alcohol.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
All that exists is just and unjust and is equally justified in both respects.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Every moment of life wants to tell us something, but we do not want to hear what it has to say: when we are alone and quiet we are afraid that something will be whispered into our ear and hence we despise quiet and drug ourselves with sociability.
From Unpublished Writings from the Period of Unfashionable Observations
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
All modern philosophizing is political, policed by governments, churches, academics, custom, fashion, and human cowardice, all of which limit it to a fake learnedness.
From Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The more thoroughly a person understands life, the less he will mock, though in the end he might still mock the "thoroughness of his understanding.
From Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The will to a system: expressed morally, a more refined corruption with philosophers, an illness of character; expressed unmorally, his will to appear stupider than he is. Stupider, that means stronger, simpler, more dominating, less cultured, more commanding, more tyrannical.
From The Twilight Of The Idols: Or, How To Philosophise With The Hammer By Friedrich Nietzsche - The Antichrist Notes To Zarathustra, And Eternal ... Anthony M. Ludovici And Edited By Oscar Levy
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
But I need solitude--which is to say, recovery, return to myself, the breath of a free, light, playful air.
From On the Genealogy of Morals / Ecce Homo
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Since I grew weary of the search
I taught myself to find instead
Since cross winds caused my ship to lurch
I sail with all winds straight ahead.
From The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
To those human beings who are of any concern to me I wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities—I wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt, the torture of self-mistrust, the wretchedness of the vanquished: I have no pity for them, because I wish them the only thing that can prove today whether one is worth anything or not—that one endures.
From The Will to Power
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Marriage as a long conversation. - When marrying you should ask yourself this question: do you believe you are going to enjoy talking with this woman into your old age? Everything else in a marriage is transitory, but most of the time that you're together will be devoted to conversation.
From Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The believer in magic and miracles reflects on how to impose a law on nature--: and, in brief, the religious cult is the outcome of this reflection.
From A Nietzsche Reader
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It may be that until now there has been no more potent means for beautifying man himself than piety: it can turn man into so much art, surface, play of colors, graciousness that his sight no longer makes one suffer.---
From Beyond Good and Evil
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Madness is something rare in individuals — but in groups, parties, peoples, and ages, it is the rule.
From Beyond Good and Evil
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Man, the bravest of animals, and the one most accustomed to suffering, does not repudiate suffering as such; he desires it, he even seeks it out, provided he is shown a meaning for it, a purpose of suffering. The meaninglessness of suffering, not suffering itself, was the curse that lay over mankind so far.
From On the Genealogy of Morals
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I love him whose soul is deep, even in being wounded, and who may perish through a minor matter: thus he goes willingly over the bridge. I love him whose soul is so overfull that he forgets himself, and all things are in him: thus all things become his going under. I love him who has a free spirit and a free heart: thus his head is only the guts of his heart; his heart, however, causes his going under. I love all who are like heavy drops falling one by one out of the cloud that lowers over man: they herald the coming of the lightning, and as heralds they perish.
From Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The tragedy is that we cannot believe the dogmas of religion and metaphysics if we have the strict methods of truth in heart and head, but on the other hand, we have become through the development of humanity so tenderly suffering that we need the highest kind of means of salvation and consolation: whence arises the danger that man may bleed to death through the truth that he realises.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Without music, life would be a mistake.
From Twilight of the Idols
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
If we have just partaken of a philosopher's wisdom, we go through the streets feeling as if we had been transformed and had become great; for we encounter only people who do not know this wisdom, and thus we have to deliver a new, unheard-of judgement about everything; because we have acknowledged a book of laws, we also think we now have to act like judges
From Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
One has to take a somewhat bold and dangerous line with this existence: especially as, whatever happens, we are bound to lose it.
From Untimely Meditations
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I have forgotten my umbrella.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I tell you: one must still have chaos in oneself to give birth to a dancing star. I tell you: you still have chaos in yourselves.
From Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
It is a self-deception of philosophers and moralists to imagine that they escape decadence by opposing it. That is beyond their will; and, however little they acknowledge it, one later discovers that they were among the most powerful promoters of decadence.
From The Will to Power
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
There have been two great narcotics in European civilisation: Christianity and alcohol.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
All that exists is just and unjust and is equally justified in both respects.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Every moment of life wants to tell us something, but we do not want to hear what it has to say: when we are alone and quiet we are afraid that something will be whispered into our ear and hence we despise quiet and drug ourselves with sociability.
From Unpublished Writings from the Period of Unfashionable Observations
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
All modern philosophizing is political, policed by governments, churches, academics, custom, fashion, and human cowardice, all of which limit it to a fake learnedness.
From Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The more thoroughly a person understands life, the less he will mock, though in the end he might still mock the "thoroughness of his understanding.
From Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The will to a system: expressed morally, a more refined corruption with philosophers, an illness of character; expressed unmorally, his will to appear stupider than he is. Stupider, that means stronger, simpler, more dominating, less cultured, more commanding, more tyrannical.
From The Twilight Of The Idols: Or, How To Philosophise With The Hammer By Friedrich Nietzsche - The Antichrist Notes To Zarathustra, And Eternal ... Anthony M. Ludovici And Edited By Oscar Levy
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
But I need solitude--which is to say, recovery, return to myself, the breath of a free, light, playful air.
From On the Genealogy of Morals / Ecce Homo
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Since I grew weary of the search
I taught myself to find instead
Since cross winds caused my ship to lurch
I sail with all winds straight ahead.
From The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
To those human beings who are of any concern to me I wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities—I wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt, the torture of self-mistrust, the wretchedness of the vanquished: I have no pity for them, because I wish them the only thing that can prove today whether one is worth anything or not—that one endures.
From The Will to Power
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Marriage as a long conversation. - When marrying you should ask yourself this question: do you believe you are going to enjoy talking with this woman into your old age? Everything else in a marriage is transitory, but most of the time that you're together will be devoted to conversation.
From Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The believer in magic and miracles reflects on how to impose a law on nature--: and, in brief, the religious cult is the outcome of this reflection.
From A Nietzsche Reader
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
It may be that until now there has been no more potent means for beautifying man himself than piety: it can turn man into so much art, surface, play of colors, graciousness that his sight no longer makes one suffer.---
From Beyond Good and Evil
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Madness is something rare in individuals — but in groups, parties, peoples, and ages, it is the rule.
From Beyond Good and Evil
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Man, the bravest of animals, and the one most accustomed to suffering, does not repudiate suffering as such; he desires it, he even seeks it out, provided he is shown a meaning for it, a purpose of suffering. The meaninglessness of suffering, not suffering itself, was the curse that lay over mankind so far.
From On the Genealogy of Morals
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I love him whose soul is deep, even in being wounded, and who may perish through a minor matter: thus he goes willingly over the bridge. I love him whose soul is so overfull that he forgets himself, and all things are in him: thus all things become his going under. I love him who has a free spirit and a free heart: thus his head is only the guts of his heart; his heart, however, causes his going under. I love all who are like heavy drops falling one by one out of the cloud that lowers over man: they herald the coming of the lightning, and as heralds they perish.
From Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The tragedy is that we cannot believe the dogmas of religion and metaphysics if we have the strict methods of truth in heart and head, but on the other hand, we have become through the development of humanity so tenderly suffering that we need the highest kind of means of salvation and consolation: whence arises the danger that man may bleed to death through the truth that he realises.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Without music, life would be a mistake.
From Twilight of the Idols
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
If we have just partaken of a philosopher's wisdom, we go through the streets feeling as if we had been transformed and had become great; for we encounter only people who do not know this wisdom, and thus we have to deliver a new, unheard-of judgement about everything; because we have acknowledged a book of laws, we also think we now have to act like judges
From Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
One has to take a somewhat bold and dangerous line with this existence: especially as, whatever happens, we are bound to lose it.
From Untimely Meditations
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I have forgotten my umbrella.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
I tell you: one must still have chaos in oneself to give birth to a dancing star. I tell you: you still have chaos in yourselves.
From Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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