Wednesday, November 18, 2009

My Favorite Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche I thought I would share some of my favorite quotes from my favorite German philosopher & philologist, Friedrich Nietzsche.

Become who you are.
- F.W. Nietzsche

It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.
- F.W. Nietzsche

There are no facts, only interpretations.
- F.W. Nietzsche

Believe me! The secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously.
- F.W. Nietzsche

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.
- F.W. Nietzsche

There is one thing one has to have: either a soul that is cheerful by nature, or a soul made cheerful by work, love, art, and knowledge.
- F.W. Nietzsche

Against boredom even the gods contend in vain.
- F.W. Nietzsche

Is not life a thousand times too short for us to bore ourselves?
- F.W. Nietzsche

You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star.
- F.W. Nietzsche

A person is far more likely to appear to have sound character because he persistently follows his temperament than because he persistently follows his principles.
- F.W. Nietzsche

An artist chooses his subjects: that is the way he praises.
- F.W. Nietzsche

Never trust a thought that didn't come by walking.
- F.W. Nietzsche

I desire that your conjectures should not reach beyond your creative will. Could you create a god? Then do not speak to me of any gods.
- F.W. Nietzsche

Insects sting, not from malice, but because they want to live. It is the same with critics – they desire our blood, not our pain.
- F.W. Nietzsche

While dreams are the individual man's play with reality, the sculptor's art is – in a broader sense – the play with dreams.
- F.W. Nietzsche

For art to exist, for any sort of aesthetic activity or perception to exist, a certain physiological precondition is indispensable: intoxication.
- F.W. Nietzsche

Whenever I climb I am followed by a dog called 'Ego.'
- F.W. Nietzsche

The higher we soar, the smaller we seem to those who cannot fly.
- F.W. Nietzsche

Living in a constant chase after gain compels people to expend their spirit to the point of exhaustion.
- F.W. Nietzsche

No one can draw more out of things, books included, than he already knows. A man has no ears for that to which experience has given him no access.
- F.W. Nietzsche

The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.
- F.W. Nietzsche

One has to pay dearly for immortality; one has to die several times while one is still alive.
- F.W. Nietzsche

There is one thing one has to have: either a soul that is cheerful by nature, or a soul made cheerful by work, love, art and knowledge.
- F.W. Nietzsche

Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual.
- F.W. Nietzsche

There are no moral phenomena, only a moral interpretation of phenomena.
- F.W. Nietzsche

Without music life would be a mistake.
- F.W. Nietzsche

Many a man fails as an original thinker simply because his memory is too good.
- F.W. Nietzsche

In music the passions enjoy themselves.
- F.W. Nietzsche

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.
- F.W. Nietzsche

In the true man there is a child concealed who wants to play.
- F.W. Nietzsche

I am not a human being, I am dynamite.
- F.W. Nietzsche

The author should shut his mouth when his work begins to speak.
- F.W. Nietzsche

When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.
- F.W. Nietzsche

What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.
- F.W. Nietzsche

There are highly gifted spirits who are always infertile simply because, owing to a weakness in temperament, they are too impatient to wait out their pregnancy to term.
- F.W. Nietzsche

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
- F.W. Nietzsche

In the mountains of truth you never climb in vain.
- F.W. Nietzsche


LATER

3 comment:

Acne cream treatment said...

This is one of my favorites :
"Egoism is the very essence of a noble soul. "
F Nietzsche

http://www.lilyputts.com/gourmet-gift-baskets said...

Excellent array of quotes by Nietzsche. Guess I didnt realize there was quite so many. Great post.

Foti said...

Good stuff... good post.
My favorite is "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music"