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Quotes by German Authors
"It is disgraceful for a philosopher to say: the good and the beautiful are one; if he adds 'also the true', one ought to beat him. Truth is ugly. We possess art lest we perish of the truth."
"The crowd of influences streaming on the young soul is so great, the clods of barbarism and violence flung at him so strange and overwhelming, that an assumed stupidity is his only refuge."
"Philosophy is not suited for the masses, what they need is holiness."
"This book belongs to the most rare of men. Perhaps not one of them is yet alive. First the day after tomorrow must come for me. Some men are born posthumously."
"Visiting the sick' is an orgasm of superiority in the contemplation of our neighbor's helplessness."
"That which does not kill us makes us stronger."
"It is true, there could be a metaphysical world; the absolute possibility of it is hardly to be disputed. We behold all things through the human head and cannot cut off this head; while the question nonetheless remains what of the world would still be there if one had cut it off."
"As if a round apple presented itself to my hand, a ripe, golden apple with a soft, cool, velvety skin - thus the world presented itself to me - as if a tree nodded to me, a wide-branching, strong-willed tree, bent for reclining and as a footstool for the way-weary: thus the world stood upon my headland - as if tender hands brought me a casket - a casket open for the delight of modest, adoring eyes: thus the world presented himself before me today - not so enigmatic as to frighten away human love, not so explicit as to put to sleep human wisdom - a good, human thing was the world to me today, this world of which so many evil things are said!"
"Family love is messy clinging and of an annoying and repetitive pattern like bad wallpaper."
"You may lie with your mouth, but with the mouth you make as you do so you none the less tell the truth."
"Man is a creative retrospection of nature upon itself."
"The surest method of being incomprehensible or, moreover, to be misunderstood is to use words in their original sense; especially words from the ancient languages."
"And so everything is new and brave, red poppies and good food, cigarettes and summer breeze."
"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."
"Considered subjectively, philosophy always begins in the middle, like an epic poem."
"One must reach out and try to grasp this astonishing finesse, that the value of lif cannot be estimated."
"One ought to hold on to one's heart; for if one lets it go, one soon loses control of the head too."
"We have abolished the real world: what world is left? The apparent world perhaps? . . . But no! with the real world we have also abolished the apparent world."
"Wherever I found a living creature there I found the will to power."
"Masks. - There are women who, however you may search them, prove to have no content but are purely masks. The man who associates with such almost spectral, necessarily unsatisfied beings is to be commiserated with, yet it is precisely they who are able to arouse the desire of the man most strongly: he seeks for her soul - and goes on seeking."
"What do you regard as most humane? To spare someone shame."
"Every past is worth condemning."
"Whoever battles with monsters had better see that it does not turn him into a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."
"Ich lehre euch den Aœbermenschen. Der Mensch ist Etwas, das A1⁄4berwunden werden soll. Was habt ihr gethan, ihn zu A1⁄4berwinden? Was ist der Affe fA1⁄4r en Menschen? Ein GelA¤chter oder eine schmerzliche Scham. Und ebendas soll der Mensch fA1⁄4r den Aœbermenschen sein: ein GelA¤chter oder eine schmerzliche Scham. Ihr habt den Weg vom Wurme zum Menschen gemacht, und Vieles ist in euch noch Wurm. Einst wart ihr Affen, und auch jetzt ist der Mensch mehr Affe, als irgend ein Affe."
"In my brain were stored a thousand pictures."
"Science and art have that in common that everyday things seem to them new and attractive."
"The most common lie is that which one lies to himself; lying to others is relatively an exception."
"There are horrible people who, instead of solving a problem, tangle it up and make it harder to solve for anyone who wants to deal with it. Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all."
"For passion, like crime does not sit well with the sure order and even course of everyday life. It welcomes every loosening of the social fabric, every confusion and affliction visited upon the world, for passion sees in such a disorder a vague hope of finding advantage for itself."
"It is the evening that questions thus from within me."
"To use the same words is not a sufficient guarantee of understanding; one must use the same words for the same genus of inward experience; ultimately one must have one's experiences in common."
"When virtue has slept it will arise more vigorous."
"And 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."
"There is no pre-established harmony between the furtherance of truth and the well-being of mankind."
"Dove la moralitA A troppo forte l'intelletto perisce."
"Not when truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, does the enlightened man dislike to wade into its waters."
"The good life is that which succeeds in existing for the moment, without reference to past or future, without condemnation or selection, in a state of absolute lightness, and in the finished conviction that there is no difference therefore between the instant and eternity."
"Business people - Your business - is your greatest prejudice: it ties you to your locality, to the company you keep, to the inclinations you feel. Diligent in business - but indolent in spirit, content with your inadequacy, and with the cloak of duty hung over this contentment: that is how you live, that is how you want your children to live!"
"It often happens that we blurt out things that may in some kind of way be harmful to us, but we are silent about things that may make us look ridiculous; because in this case effect follows very quickly on cause."
"In the end we are always rewarded for our good will, our patience, fair-mindedness, and gentleness with what is strange."
"That which does not kill me makes me stronger."
"Existence really is an imperfect tense that never becomes a present."
"All truth is simple... is that not doubly a lie?"
"Idleness is the parent of psychology."
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