Friedrich Nietzsche
Tuesday, 11 February 2025A miscellaneous collection of Nietzschean quotes from his works, letters and unpublished notes.
It is possible to imagine a society flushed with such a sense of power that it could afford to let its offenders go unpunished.
Second Essay, Section 11, Genealogy of Morals
Nietzsche Quotes
All instincts that do not discharge themselves outwardly turn inward--this is what I call the internalization of man: thus it was that man first developed what was later called his "soul."
Second Essay, Section 16, Genealogy of Morals.
Nietzsche Quotes
Engrave this Quote I have used these weeks to "revalue values." Do you understand this expression? When you come right down to it, the alchemist is the most praiseworthy of men: I mean the one who changes something negligible or contemptible into something of value, even gold. He alone enriches, the others merely exchange. My task is quite singular this time: I have asked myself what mankind has always hated, feared, and despised the most -- and precisely out of this I have made my "gold"...
Letter to Georg Brandes, May 23, 1888
Nietzsche Quotes
I fly in dreams, I know it is my privilege, I do not recall a single situation in dreams when I was unable to fly. To execute every sort of curve and angle with a light impulse, a flying mathematics - that is so distinct a happiness that it has permanently suffused my basic sense of happiness.
Unpublished fragments dating to Fall 1881
Nietzsche Quotes
Our treasure lies in the beehives of our knowledge. We are perpetually on our way thither, being by nature winged insects and honey gatherers of the mind. The only thing that lies close to our heart is the desire to bring something home to the hive.
The Genealogy of Morals (1887)
Nietzsche Quotes
To educate educators! But the first ones must educate themselves! And for these I write.
Notes (1875)
Nietzsche Quotes
The better the state is established, the fainter is humanity. To make the individual uncomfortable, that is my task.
Notes (1875)
Nietzsche Quotes
The only happiness lies in reason; all the rest of the world is dismal. The highest reason, however, I see in the work of the artist ... Happiness lies in the swiftness of feeling and thinking: all the rest of the world is slow, gradual, and stupid.
Notes (1875)
Nietzsche Quotes
What is strong wins: that is the universal law. If only it were not so often precisely what is stupid and evil!
Notes (1873)
Nietzsche Quotes
...Faith does not offer the least support for a proof of objective truth. Here the ways of men part: if you wish to strive for peace of soul and pleasure, then believe; if you wish to be a devotee of truth, then inquire ...
Letter to His Sister (Bonn, 1865)
Nietzsche Quotes
... The errors of great men are venerable because they are more fruitful than the truths of little men ...
Fragment of a Critique of Schopenhauer (1867)
Nietzsche Quotes
A strong and well-constituted man digests his experiences (deeds and misdeeds all included) just as he digests his meats, even when he has some tough morsels to swallow.
On the Genealogy of Morality (1887). Essay 3, Aphorism 16
Nietzsche Quotes
You have overcome yourself: but why do you show yourself to me only as the one overcome? I want to see the victor: cast roses into the abyss and say, "Here is my thanks to the monster, because it didn't know how to swallow me!"
Unpublished fragments dating November 1882 to February 1883.
Nietzsche Quotes
The sick are the greatest danger for the healthy; it is not from the strongest that harm comes to the strong, but from the weakest.
On the Genealogy of Morality (1887). Essay 3, Aphorism 14
Nietzsche Quotes
And if you are not a bird, then beware of coming to rest above an abyss.
Unpublished fragments dating to June-July 1883.
Nietzsche Quotes
Friedrich Nietzsche Quote of the Day
Tuesday, 11 February 2025One must have a good memory to be able to keep the promises one makes.Human, All Too Human (1878). I.59