Quote collection
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"That little hypocrites and half-crazed people dare to imagine that on their account the laws of nature are constantly broken; such an enhancement of every kind of selfishness to infinity, to impudence, cannot be branded with sufficient contempt. And yet Christianity owes its triumph to this pitiable flattery of personal vanity."
"Is man God's biggest blunder, or is man's God?"
"[Heraclitus' language] dispenses with lightness and artificial decoration, foremost out of disgust for humanity and out of [his own] defiant feeling."
"Nothing can be done about it: every master has but a single pupil--and he will not stay loyal to him--for he is also destined to become a master."
"Many things about man are not very godly: whenever a person excretes feces, how can he be a god then? But it is even worse regarding the other feces we call sin: man still surely wants to retain this, and not excrete it. Now however, I must believe it: a person can be God and still excrete feces. Thus I teach you, excrete your feces and become gods."
"This is the crux of the moral pessimists: if they really wanted to promote their neighbor's redemption, then they would have to resolve themselves to spoiling existence for him, and thus to being his misfortune; out of pity, they would have to--become evil!"
"We feign pity when we want to demonstrate our ascendancy over feelings of hostility: but usually in vain. Whenever we notice this,there is an accompanying surge in those hostile sensations."
"I admire the courage and wisdom of Socrates in everything he did, said--and did not say."
"Whoever gives advice to the sick gains a sense of superiority over them, no matter whether his advice is accepted or rejected. That is why sick people who are sensitive and proud hate their advisors even more than their illnesses."
"When a man reaches his maturity in understanding and in years, the feeling comes over him that his father was wrong to beget him."
"Sometimes we remain true to a cause simply because its opponents are unfailingly tasteless."
"And so do you suppose it must be a piece-work because it has been given to you (and could only be given to you) in pieces?"
"Whether in conversation we generally agree or disagree with others is largely a matter of habit: the one tendency makes as much sense as the other."
"I have given a name to my pain, and call it "dog"."
"Doing ill to those on whom we have to make our power felt; for pain is a far more sensitive means for that purpose than pleasure: pain always asks concerning the cause, while pleasure is inclined to keep within itself and not look backward."
"Does not the discipline of the scientific spirit just commence when one no longer harbours any conviction?"
"Remain true to the earth."
"It is neither the best nor the worst things in a book that defy translation."
"The value of a man can only be measured with regard to other men."
"Even in the lust of knowledge I feel only my will's delight in begetting and becoming; and if there be innocence in my knowledge it is because my procreative will is in it."