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Words Are But Symbols For The Relations Of Things To One Another And To Us; Nowhere Do They Touch Upon Absolute Truth.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
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Words Are But Symbols

Friedrich Nietzsche
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Words Are But Symbols For The Relations Of Things To One Another And To Us; Nowhere Do They Touch Upon Absolute Truth.

Understanding the Quote: "words are but symbols for the relations of things to one another..."

This quote by Friedrich Nietzsche reflects deeply on the theme of relation. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Relation, Absolute Truth, Symbols, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Friedrich Nietzsche interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche is celebrated for insightful thoughts on relation and absolute truth. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Relation
Absolute Truth
Symbols
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Even The Most Beautiful Scenery Is No Longer Assured Of Our Love After We Have Lived In It For Three Months, And Some Distant Coast Attracts Our Avarice: Possessions Are Generally Diminished By Possession.
Beautiful
Greed
Three
Every Word Has Its Fragrance: There Is A Harmony And A Disharmony Of Fragrances, And Hence Of Words.
Harmony
Fragrance
Disharmony
We Ought To Fear A Man Who Hates Himself, For We Are At Risk Of Becoming Victims Of His Anger And Revenge. Let Us Then Try To Lure Him Into Self-love.
Revenge
Hate
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Here Is A Hero Who Did Nothing But Shake The Tree As Soon As The Fruit Was Ripe. Does This Seem To Be Too Small A Thing To You? Then Take A Good Look At The Tree He Shook.
Hero
Tree
Doe
I Admire The Courage And Wisdom Of Socrates In Everything He Did, Said--and Did Not Say.
Courage
Said
Admire
I Love The Great Despisers Because They Are The Great Adorers.
I Change Too Quickly: My Today Refutes My Yesterday. When I Ascend I Often Jump Over Steps, And No Step Forgives Me That.
Yesterday
Forgive Me
Forgiving
If There Were Gods, How Could I Endure Not To Be A God? Therefore There Are No Gods.
Atheist
Endure
Ifs
Whoever Deliberately Attempts To Insure Confidentiality With Another Person Is Usually In Doubt As To Whether He Inspires That Person's Confidence In Him. One Who Is Sure That He Inspires Confidence Attaches Little Importance To Confidentiality.
Trust
Inspire
Doubt
How Did Reason Come Into The World? As Is Fitting, In An Irrational Manner, By Accident. One Will Have To Guess At It As At A Riddle.
World
Reason
Fitting
In Everything One Thing Is Impossible: Rationality.
Impossible
Rationality
One Thing
Whoever Despises Himself Still Esteems The Despiser Within Himself.
Despise
Esteem
Stills
The Superman Is The Meaning Of The Earth. Let Your Will Say: The Superman Is To Be The Meaning Of The Earth! I Beseech You, My Brothers, Be True To The Earth, And Do Not Believe Those Who Speak To You Of Otherworldly Hopes! They Are Poisoners, Whether They Know It Or Not.
Brother
Believe
Earth
What Is Not Intelligible To Me Is Not Necessarily Unintelligent
Unintelligent
Every God-man Created His Own God: And There Is No Worse Enmity On Earth Than That Between Gods.
Men
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We Should Conserve Evil Just As We Should Conserve The Forests. It Is True That By Thinning And Clearing The Forests The Earth Grew Warmer.
Evil
Earth
Forests
In All Institutions From Which The Cold Wind Of Open Criticism Is Excluded, An Innocent Corruption Begins To Grow Like A Mushroom - For Example, In Senates And Learned Societies
Wind
Mushrooms
Criticism
One Should Die Proudly When It Is No Longer Possible To Live Proudly.
Death
Humorous
Profound
The Last Christian Died On A Cross.
Christian
Atheist
Lasts
A Real Fox Calls Sour Not Only Those Grapes That He Cannot Reach But Also Those That He Has Reached And Taken Away From Others.
Real
Taken
Foxes
"god", "the Immortality Of The Soul", "salvation", "the Beyond"-even As A Child I Had No Time For Such Notions, I Do Not Waste Any Time Upon Them-maybe I Was Never Childish Enough For That?
Children
Soul
Religion
For Those Who Need Consolation No Means Of Consolation Is So Effective As The Assertion That In Their Case No Consolation Is Possible: It Implies So Great A Degree Of Distinction That They At Once Hold Up Their Heads Again.
Mean
Degrees
Needs
There Are No Moral Phenomena At All, But Only A Moral Interpretation Of Phenomena.
Moral
Interpretation
Convictions Are More Dangerous Foes Of Truth Than Lies.
Truth
Lying
Religion
In Laughter All That Is Evil Comes Together, But Is Pronounced Holy And Absolved By Its Own Bliss.
Laughter
Evil
Together
To Those Human Beings Who Are Of Any Concern To Me, I Wish Suffering, Desolation, Sickness, Ill Treatment, Indignities, Profound Self-contempt, The Torture Of Self-mistrust, And The Wretchedness Of The Vanquished.
Self
Ill Treatment
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The Radical Hostility, The Deadly Hostility Against Sensuality, Is Always A Symptom To Reflect On: It Entitles Us To Suppositions Concerning The Total State Of One Who Is Excessive In This Manner.
Sexuality
States
Symptoms
To See Others Suffer Does One Good, To Make Others Suffer Even More: This Is A Hard Saying But An Ancient, Mighty, Human, All-too-human Principle [....] Without Cruelty There Is No Festival.
Suffering
Principles
Doe
Ye Shall Be Those Whose Eyes Ever Seek For An Enemy - For Your Enemy. And With Some Of You There Is Hatred At First Sight.
Eye
Sight
Hatred
The Flame Is Not As Bright To Itself As It Is To Those It Illuminates: So Too The Sage.
Wisdom
Flames
Sage
It Is The Stillest Words That Bring The Storm.
Storm
But This Word Will I Say To My Enemies: What Is All Manslaughter In Comparison With What You Have Done To Me!
Pain
Enemy
Suffering
This Life As You Now Live It And Have Lived It, You Will Have To Live Once More And Innumerable Times More; And There Will Be Nothing New In It, But Every Pain And Every Joy And Every Thought And Sigh And Everything Unutterably Small Or Great In Your Life Will Have To Return To You, All In The Same Succession And Sequence - Even This Spider And This Moonlight Between The Trees, And Even This Moment And I Myself. The Eternal Hourglass Of Existence Is Turned Upside Down Again And Again, And You With It, Speck Of Dust!
Pain
Dust
Tree
Idleness Is The Beginning Of All Psychology. What? Could It Be That Psychology Is ? A Vice?
Psychology
Vices
Idleness
What The Sense Feeleth, What The Spirit Discerneth, Hath Never Its End In Itself. But Sense And Spirit Would Fain Persuade Thee That They Are The End Of All Things: So Vain Are They.
Spirit
Vain
Ends
There Did He Sit Shrivelled In His Chimney Corner, Fretting On Account Of His Weak Legs, World Weary, Will Weary, And One Day He Suffocated Through His Excessive Pity.
God
One Day
World
Giving Style” To One’s Character - A Great And Rare Art! It Is Exercised By Those Who See All The Strengths And Weaknesses Of Their Own Natures And Then Comprehend Them In An Artistic Plan Until Everything Appears As Art And Reason And Even Weakness Delights The Eye.
Art
Character
Eye
What Is Life? A Continuous Praise And Blame.
Life
Blame
Praise
The State Is The Coldest Of All Cold Monsters, And Coldly It Tells Lies, And This Lie Drones On From Its Mouth: 'i, The State, Am The People'.
Lying
Government
People
The Advocates Of A Criminal Are Seldom Artists Enough To Turn The Beautiful Terribleness Of The Deed To The Advantage Of The Doer.
Beautiful
Artist
Criminals
Who Has Not For The Sake Of His Reputation Sacrificed Himself?
Integrity
Sake
Reputation
The Spirit Of The Poet Craves Spectators... Even If Only Buffaloes.
Spirit
Poet
Spectators
How Can A Man Know Himself? He Is A Thing Dark And Veiled; And If The Hare Has Seven Skins, Man Can Slough Off Seventy Times Seven And Still Not Be Able To Say: "this Is Really You, This Is No Longer Outer Shell.
Dark
Men
Skins
Where Does One Not Find That Bland Degeneration Which Beer Produces In The Spirit!
Beer
Alcohol
Doe
Man Wishes Woman To Be Peaceable, But In Fact She Is Essentially Warlike, Like The Cat.
Peace
Women
Cat
It Is So Little True That Martyrs Offer Any Support To The Truth Of A Cause That I Am Inclined To Deny That Any Martyr Has Ever Had Anything To Do With The Truth At All.
Truth
Support
Littles
I Live In My Own Place - Have Never Copied Anyone Even Half, And At Any Master Who Lacks The Grace - To Laugh At Himself - I Laugh.
Laughing
Grace
Half
Reason" In Language - Oh, What An Old Deceptive Female She Is! I Am Afraid We Are Not Rid Of God Because We Still Have Faith In Grammar.
Female
Have Faith
Language
The Saying, "the Magyar Is Much Too Lazy To Be Bored," Is Worth Thinking About. Only The Most Subtle And Active Animals Are Capable Of Boredom.--a Theme For A Great Poet Would Be God's Boredom On The Seventh Day Of Creation.
Animal
Thinking
Boredom
The Hour When You Say, "what Does My Happiness Matter? It Is Poverty And Filth, And A Wretched Complacency. Yet My Happiness Should Justify Existence Itself!
Happiness
Matter
Complacency
If You Are Too Weak To Give Yourselves Your Own Law, Then A Tyrant Shall Lay His Yoke Upon You And Say: "obey! Clench Your Teeth And Obey!" And All Good And Evil Shall Be Drowned In Obedience To Him.
Law
Tyrants
Evil
One Has To Pay Dearly For Immortality; One Has To Die Several Times While One Is Still Alive.
Death
Hero
Dying
I Obviously Do Everything To Be "hard To Understand" Myself
Hard
Do Whatever You Will, But First Be Such As Are Able To Will.
Able
Firsts
The Living Is Merely A Type Of What Is Dead, And A Very Rare Type.
Type
Let That Day Be Lost To Us On Which We Did Not Dance Once!
Dance
Ballet
Lost
We Have No Organ At All For Knowledge, For Truth: We Know (or Believe Or Imagine) Precisely As Much As May Be Useful In The Interest Of The Human Herd, The Species: And Even What Is Here Called Usefulness Is In The End Only A Belief, Something Imagined And Perhaps Precisely That Most Fatal Piece Of Stupidity By Which We Shall One Day Perish.
Believe
Knowledge
Stupidity
The Noble Caste Was In The Beginning Always The Barbarian Caste: Their Superiority Lay, Not In Their Physical Strength, But Primarily In Their Psychical - They Were More Complete Human Beings.
Noble
Barbarians
Physical Strength
A Moral System Valid For All Is Basically Immoral.
Morality
Moral
Immoral
I Teach You Beyond Man (superman). Man Is Something That Shall Be Surpassed. What Have You Done To Surpass Him?
Men
Nihilism
Done
Someone Who Does Not Write Books, Who Thinks A Lot, And Who Lives In Unsatisfying Society Will Usually Be A Good Letter- Writer.
Book
Writing
Thinking
All Of Life Is A Dispute Over Taste And Tasting.
Taste
Life Is
Disputes
People Who Wish To Numb Our Caution In Dealing With Them By Means Of Flattery Are Employing A Dangerous Expedient, Like A Sleeping Draught, Which, If It Does Not Put Us To Sleep, Keeps Us All The More Awake.
Mean
Sleep
People
It Is Not Things, But Opinions About Things That Have Absolutely No Existence, Which Have So Deranged Mankind!
Men
Opinion
Existence
Among Twelve Apostles There Must Always Be One Who Is As Hard As Stone, So That The New Church May Be Built Upon Him.
Church
Twelve
May
Asceticism Is The Right Way Of Thinking For Those Who Have To Extirpate Their Sensual Drives Because They Are Ravening Beasts Of Prey. But Only For Those!
Thinking
Sensual
Asceticism
In Song And Dance, Man Forgets How To Walk And Speak And Is On The Way Into Flying Into The Air, Dancing... His Very Gestures Express Enchantment.
Song
Men
Air
The Great End Of Art Is To Strike The Imagination With The Power Of A Soul That Refuses To Admit Defeat Even In The Midst Of A Collapsing World.
Life
Motivational
Art
Nothing Seems To Me To Be Rarer Today Then Genuine Hypocrisy. I Greatly Suspect That This Plant Finds The Mild Atmosphere Of Our Culture Unendurable. Hypocrisy Has Its Place In The Ages Of Strong Belief: In Which Even When One Is Compelled To Exhibit A Different Belief One Does Not Abandon The Belief One Already Has.
Strong
Hypocrisy
Atmosphere
Whoever Aims Publicly At Great Things And At Length Perceives Secretly That He Is Too Weak To Achieve Them, Has Usually Also Insufficient Strength To Renounce His Aims Publicly, And Then Inevitably Becomes A Hypocrite.
Hypocrite
Hypocrisy
Achieve
[heraclitus Speaks As If] In Entrancement ... But [also] Truthfully.
Speak
Ifs
One Who Has Given Up Any Hope Of Winning A Fight Or Has Clearly Lost It Wants His Style In Fighting To Be Admired All The More.
Hope
Fighting
Winning
Every High Degree Of Power Always Involves A Corresponding Degree Of Freedom From Good And Evil.
Power
Evil
Degrees
Behind A Remarkable Scholar We Not Infrequently Find An Average Human Being, And Behind An Average Artist We Often Find A Very Remarkable Human Being.
Artist
Average
Remarkable
Mathematics Would Certainly Have Not Come Into Existence If One Had Known From The Beginning That There Was In Nature No Exactly Straight Line, No Actual Circle, No Absolute Magnitude.
Nature
Math
Science
Wit Is The Epitaph Of An Emotion.
Emotional
Feelings
Tongue
The Parasites Live Where The Great Have Little Secret Sores.
Class
Secret
Littles
Every One Being Allowed To Learn To Read, Ruineth In The Long Run Not Only Writing But Also Thinking.
Running
Writing
Thinking
With Sturdy Shoulders, Space Stands Opposing All Its Weight To Nothingness. Where Space Is, There Is Being.
Space
Weight
Sturdy
I Listened For The Echo, And I Heard Only Praise —
Echoes
Praise
Heard
Necessity Is An Interpretation, Not A Fact.
Adversity
Facts
Human Nature
Dead Are All Gods: Now We Want The Overman To Live.
Want
Kindliness, Friendliness, The Courtesy Of The Heart, Are Ever-flowing Streams Of Non Egoistic Impulses, And Have Given Far More Powerful Assistance To Culture Than Even Those Much More Famous Demonstrations Which Are Called Pity, Mercy, And Self-sacrifice.
Powerful
Heart
Sacrifice
The So-called Paradoxes Of An Author, To Which A Reader Takes Exception, Often Exist Not In The Author's Book At All, But Rather In The Reader's Head.
Book
Reading
Paradox
It Is Not Conflict Of Opinions That Has Made History So Violent But Conflict Of Belief In Opinions, That Is To Say Conflict Of Convictions.
Belief
Opinion
Conflict
Man Is More Ape Than Many Of The Apes.
Men
Apes
Under Peaceful Conditions A Warlike Man Sets Upon Himself.
Men
Peaceful
Conditions
Logic, Too, Also Rests On Assumptions That Do Not Correspond To Anything In The Real World, E.g., On The Assumption That There Areequal Things, That The Same Thing Is Identical At Different Points In Time: But This Science Arose As A Result Of The Opposite Belief (that Such Things Actually Exist In The Real World). And It Is The Same With Mathematics, Which Would Certainly Never Have Arisen If It Had Been Understood From The Beginning That There Is No Such Thing In Nature As A Perfectly Straight Line, A True Circle, And Absolute Measure.
Real
Equality
Opposites
I Want To Learn More And More To See As Beautiful What Is Necessary In Things:—then I Shall Be One Of Those Who Make Things Beautiful. Amor Fati: Let That Be My Love From Henceforth!
Beautiful
Amor
Want
When, However, You Have An Enemy, Then Do Not Requite Him Good For Evil: For That Would Shame Him. Instead, Prove That He Did Some Good For You. And Rather Be Angry Than Put To Shame! And When You Are Cursed, I Do Not Like It That You Want To Bless. Rather Curse A Little Also! And If You Are Done A Great Injustice, Then Quickly Add Five Small Ones. Hideous To Behold Is He Who Is Obsessed With An Injustice.
Evil
Enemy
Add
Do You Want To Have An Easy Life? Then Always Stay With The Herd And Lose Yourself In The Herd.
Want
Conformity
Losing Yourself
The Discipline Of Suffering, Of Great Suffering- Do You Not Know That Only This Discipline Has Created All Enhancements Of Man So Far? That Tension Of The Soul In Unhappiness Which Cultivates Its Strength, Its Shudders Face To Face With Great Ruin, Its Inventiveness And Courage In Enduring, Preserving, Interpreting, And Exploiting Suffering, And Whatever Has Been Granted To It Of Profundity, Secret, Mask, Spirit, Cunning, Greatness- Was It Not Granted To It Through Suffering, Through The Discipline Of Great Suffering?
Greatness
Men
Discipline
All Truly Great Thoughts Are Conceived By Walking.
Life
Happiness
Exercise
This Is The Hardest Of All: To Close The Open Hand Out Of Love, And Keep Modest As A Giver.
Love
Hands
Modesty
Having Become Conscious Of The Truth He Once Perceived, Man Now Sees Only The Awfulness Or The Absurdity Of Existence, He Now Understands The Symbolic Element In Ophelia's Fate, He Now Recognizes The Wisdom Of The Woodland God, Silenus: It Nauseates Him.
Fate
Men
Nausea
Weariness Is The Shortest Path To Equality And Fraternity-and Finally Liberty Is Bestowed By Sleep.
Sleep
Equality
Liberty
The Perfect Woman Is A Higher Type Of Humanity Than The Perfect Man, And Also Something Much Rarer. The Natural History Of Animals Furnishes Grounds In Support Of This Theory.
Women
Animal
Perfect
Man Is The Cruelest Animal. At Tragedies, Bullfights, And Crucifixions He Has So Far Felt Best On Earth; And When He Invented Hell For Himself, Behold, That Was His Very Heaven.
Art
Philosophy
Men
It Was A Subtle Refinement Of God To Learn Greek When He Wished To Write A Book – And That He Did Not Learn It Better.
Book
Writing
Greek
Whoever Is Related To Me In The Height Of His Aspirations Will Experience Veritable Ecstasies Of Learning; For I Come From Heights That No Bird Ever Reached In Its Flight, I Know Abysses Into Which No Foot Ever Strayed.
Feet
Bird
Height
The Higher Its Type, The More Rarely A Thing Succeeds.
Success
Excellence
Succeed
Behold! I Am Weary Of My Wisdom, Like The Bee That Has Gathered Too Much Honey; I Need Hands Outstretched To Take It From Me. I Wish To Spread It And Bestow It, Until The Wise Have Once More Become Joyous In Their Folly, And The Poor Happy In Their Riches.
Wise
Hands
Wish
As An Artist One Has No Home In Europe Except In Paris.
Art
Home
Europe
And You Tell Me, Friends, That There Is No Disputing Taste And Tasting? But All Life Is A Dispute Over Taste And Tasting!
Taste
Life Is
Disputes
There Is Only A Perspective Seeing, Only A Perspective 'knowing'; And The More Affects We Allow To Speak About One Thing, The More Eyes, Different Eyes, We Can Use To Observe One Thing, The More Complete Will Our 'concept' Of This Thing, Our 'objectivity,' Be.
Eye
Objectivity
Knowing
Thoughts Are The Shadows Of Our Feelings - Always Darker, Emptier And Simpler.
Love
Inspirational
Feelings
From People Who Merely Pray We Must Become People Who Bless.
People
Praying
Bless
Alas! There Cometh The Time When Man Will No Longer Give Birth To Any Star. Alas! There Cometh The Time Of The Most Despicable Man, Who Can No Longer Despise Himself.
Stars
Men
Giving
We Possess Art Lest We Perish Of The Truth.
Art
O Voltaire! O Humanity! O Idiocy! There Is Something Ticklish In "the Truth," And In The Search For The Truth; And If Man Goes About It Too Humanely-"il Ne Cherche Le Vrai Que Pour Faire Le Bien"-i Wager He Finds Nothing!
Men
Humanity
Ticklish
We Do Not Belong To Those Who Only Get Their Thought From Books, Or At The Prompting Of Books, -- It Is Our Custom To Think In The Open Air, Walking, Leaping, Climbing, Or Dancing On Lonesome Mountains By Preference, Or Close To The Sea, Where Even The Paths Become Thoughtful.
Book
Thoughtful
Thinking
Foolish Is My Happiness, And Foolish Things Will It Speak: It Is Still Too Young—so Have Patience With It!
Speak
Foolish
Young
Joy Wants The Eternity Of All Things, Wants Deep, Wants Deep Eternity.
Joy
Want
Eternity
The Most Vulnerable And Yet Most Unconquerable Of Things Is Human Vanity; Nay, Through Being Wounded Its Strength Increases And Can Grow To Giant Proportions.
Vanity
Giants
Vulnerable
I Am The Leading Strings Of The Ego And The Prompter Of Its Concepts.
Ego
Strings
Concepts
We Love Life, Not Because We Are Used To Living But Because We Are Used To Loving.
Love
Inspirational
Inspiring
It Is An End With Priests And Gods, If Man Becomes Scientific. Moral: Science Is The Thing Forbidden In Itself - It Alone Is Forbidden. Science Is The First Sin, The Germ Of All Sin, Original Sin. This Alones Is Mortality: Thou Shalt Not Know.
Men
Firsts
Germs
Rendering Oneself Unarmed When One Had Been The Best-armed, Out Of A Height Of Feeling-that Is The Means To Real Peace, Which Must Always Rest On A Peace Of Mind.
Real
Mean
Feelings
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.
Lust
Delight
Becoming
Sometimes We Remain True To A Cause Simply Because Its Opponents Are Unfailingly Tasteless.
Loyalty
Opponents
Causes
Sometimes People Don't Want To Hear The Truth Because They Don't Want Their Illusions Destroyed.
Inspirational
Truth
People
That The World Is Not The Embodiment Of An Eternal Rationality Can Be Conclusively Proved By The Fact That The Piece Of The Worldthat We Know--i Mean Our Human Reason--is Not So Very Rational. And If It Is Not Eternally And Completely Wise And Rational, Then The Rest Of The World Will Not Be Either; Here The Conclusion A Minori Ad Majus, A Parte Ad Totum Applies, And Does So With Decisive Force.
Wise
Mean
Doe
The Germans Are Incapable Of Any Conception Of Greatness: Proof Schumann.
Greatness
Culture
Proof
We Have To Be Careful That In Throwing Out The Devil, We Don't Throw Out The Best Part Of Ourselves.
Devil
Throwing
Be Careful
"this - Is Now My Way - Where Is Yours"? Thus Did I Answer Those Who Asked Me "the Way". For The Way - It Does Not Exist!
Independent
Doe
Answers
One Ought To Hold On To One's Heart; For If One Lets It Go, One Soon Loses Control Of The Head Too.
Strength
Heart
Emotional
He Turns All Of His Injuries Into Strengths, That Which Does Not Kill Him Makes Him Stronger, He Is Superman.
Strength
Stronger
Doe
On The Heights It Is Warmer Than People In The Valley Suppose, Especially In Winter. The Thinker Recognizes The Full Import Of This Simile.
Winter
People
Valleys
Not Contentment, But More Power; Not Peace At Any Price, But War; Not Virtue, But Efficiency (virtue In The Renaissance Sense, Virtu , Virtue Free Of Moral Acid).
War
Contentment
Renaissance
Whoever Commits To Paper What He Suffers Becomes A Melancholy Author: But He Becomes A Serious Author When He Tells Us What He Suffered And Why He Now Reposes In Joy.
Joy
Suffering
Paper
In Order To Be Able Thus To Misjudge, And Thus To Grant Left-handed Veneration To Our Classics, People Must Have Ceased To Know Them. This, Generally Speaking, Is Precisely What Has Happened. For, Otherwise, One Ought To Know That There Is Only One Way Of Honoring Them, And That Is To Continue Seeking With The Same Spirit And With The Same Courage, And Not To Weary Of The Search.
Order
People
Able
There Are Men Who Desire Power Simply For The Sake Of The Happiness It Will Bring; These Belong Chiefly To Political Parties.
Party
Men
Political
Let Them Like The Tibetans, Chew The Cud Of Their "om Mane Padme Hum" Innumerable Times, Or, As In Benares, Count The Name Of The God Ram-ram-ram (etc. With Or Without Charm) On Their Fingers; Or Honour Vishnu With His Thousand Names Of Invocation, Allah With His Ninety-nine; Or They May Make Use Of The Prayer-wheels And The Rosary: The Main Thing Is That They Are Settled Down For A Time At This Work And Are Tolerable To Look At. This Kind Of Prayer Has Been Invented For The Benefit Of The Pious Who Have Thought And Elevations Of Their Own.
Prayer
Names
Ninety Nine
The Ascetic Makes A Necessity Of Virtue.
Asceticism
Virtue
When A Man Reaches His Maturity In Understanding And In Years, The Feeling Comes Over Him That His Father Was Wrong To Beget Him.
Father
Maturity
Men
Enjoyment And Innocence Are The Most Bashful Things: Both Do Not Want To Be Sought.
Want
Innocence
Pleasure
What I Really Want From Music: That It Be Cheerful And Profound Like An Afternoon In October.
Profound
Cheerful
Afternoon
We Can Destroy Only As Creators
Creator
The Reason Adultery Is Immoral Is That It Might Lead To Marriage.
Might
Moral
Adultery
The Sexes Deceive Themselves About One Another: The Reason Being That At Bottom They Honor And Love Only Themselves (or Their Ownideal, To Express It More Agreeably). Thus Man Wants Woman To Be Peaceable--but Woman Is Essentially, Like The Cat, Not Peaceable, However Well She May Have Trained Herself To Assume The Appearance Of Peace.
Sex
Cat
Men
The Craving For Equality Can Express Itself Either As A Desire To Pull Everyone Down To Our Own Level (by Belittling Them, Excluding Them, Tripping Them Up) Or As A Desire To Raise Ourselves Up Along With Everyone Else (by Acknowledging Them, Helping Them, And Rejoicing In Their Success).
Desire
Levels
Tripping
The Wittiest Authors Evoke A Barely Perceptible Smile.
Evoke
Wit
Wittiest
Ye Shall Only Have Foes To Be Hated; But Not Foes To Be Despised: Ye Must Be Proud Of Your Foes.
Proud
Hated
Foe
Free From What? What Does That Matter To Zarathustra! Clearly, However, Shall Your Eye Show To Me: Free For What?
Independent
Eye
Doe
Remorse.-- Never Yield To Remorse, But At Once Tell Yourself: Remorse Would Simply Mean Adding To The First Act Of Stupidity A Second.
Mean
Yield
Stupidity
Help Thyself: Then Everyone Will Help Thee Too. Principle Of Christian Charity.
Christian
Principles
Charity
Women Are Considered Deep - Why? Because One Can Never Discover Any Bottom To Them. Women Are Not Even Shallow.
Women
Shallow
Bottom
We Are Terrified By The Idea Of Being Terrified.
Ideas
Terrified
A Thinker Sees His Own Actions As Experiments And Questions--as Attempts To Find Out Something. Success And Failure Are For Him Answers Above All.
Inspirational
Success
Atheist
The Greeks, With Their Truly Healthy Culture, Have Once And For All Justified Philosophy Simply By Having Engaged In It, And Having Engaged In It More Fully Than Any Other People.
Philosophy
Philosophical
People
The Strongest Knowledge (that Of The Total Freedom Of The Human Will) Is Nonetheless The Poorest In Successes: For It Always Has The Strongest Opponent, Human Vanity.
Vanity
Opponents
Free Will
The Better The State Is Established, The Fainter Is Humanity. To Make The Individual Uncomfortable, That Is My Task.
Fear
Humanity
Atheism
Marriage: That I Call The Will Of Two To Create The One Who Is More Than Those Who Created It.
Love
Marriage
Two
Few Are Made For Independence, It Is The Privilege Of The Strong.
Strong
Independence
Privilege
Whereas The Man Of Action Binds His Life To Reason And Its Concepts So That He Will Not Be Swept Away And Lost, The Scientific Investigator Builds His Hut Right Next To The Tower Of Science So That He Will Be Able To Work On It And To Find Shelter For Himself Beneath Those Bulwarks Which Presently Exist.
Science
Men
Progress
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.
Dream
Curves
Light
The Slow Arrow Of Beauty. The Noblest Kind Of Beauty Is That Which Does Not Transport Us Suddenly, Which Does Not Make Stormy And Intoxicating Impressions Such A Kind Easily Arouses Disgust But That Which Slowly Filters Into Our Minds.
Arrows
Words Of Wisdom
Mind
Through Searching Out Origins, One Becomes A Crab. The Historian Looks Backwards, And Finally He Also Believes Backwards.
Believe
History
Looks
...throw Roses Into The Abyss And Say: 'here Is My Thanks To The Monster Who Didn't Succeed In Swallowing Me Alive.
Rose
Monsters
Swallowing
For Such Is Man: A Theological Dogma Might Be Refuted To Him A Thousand Times - Provided However, That He Had Need Of It, He Would Again And Again Accept It As True. Belief Is Always Most Desired, Most Pressingly Needed Where There Is A Lack Of Will. Fanaticism Is The Sole "volitional Strength" To Which The Weak And Irresolute Can Be Excited, As A Sort Of Hypnotising Of The Entire Sensory-intellectual System.
Men
Intellectual
Atheism
There Is Nothing We Like To Communicate To Others As Much As The Seal Of Secrecy Together With What Lies Under It.
Lying
Together
Secrecy
How Much Beer Is In German Intelligence?
Beer
Quidquid Luce Fuit Tenebris Agit: But Also The Other Way Around. What We Experience In Dreams, So Long As We Experience It Frequently, Is In The End Just As Much A Part Of The Total Economy Of Our Soul As Anything We "really" Experience: Because Of It We Are Richer Or Poorer, Are Sensitive To One Need More Or Less, And Are Eventually Guided A Little By Our Dream-habits In Broad Daylight And Even In The Most Cheerful Moments Occupying Our Waking Spirit.
Dream
Long
Soul
The Most Common Lie Is That Which One Lies To Himself; Lying To Others Is Relatively An Exception.
Lying
Common
Exception
"faith" As An Imperative Is A Veto Against Science-in Praxi, It Means Lies At Any Price.
Faith
Lying
Mean
Everything That Is Profound Loves The Mask: The Profoundest Things Have A Hatred Even Of Figure And Likeness.
Profound
Hatred
Mask
Comparing Man And Woman On The Whole, One May Say: Woman Would Not Possess A Genius For Ornamentation If She Did Not Also Possessan Instinct For The Secondary Role.
Men
Roles
Genius
Whether We Immoralists Do Any Harm To Virtue?-just As Little As Anarchists Do To Princes. It Is Only Because They Have Been Shot At That They Once Again Sit Securely On Their Thrones. Moral: We Must Shoot At Morals.
Thrones
Littles
Moral
He Who Would Learn To Fly One Day Must First Learn To Stand And Walk And Run And Climb And Dance; One Cannot Fly Into Flying.
Inspirational
Moving On
Dance
[heraclitus' Language] Dispenses With Lightness And Artificial Decoration, Foremost Out Of Disgust For Humanity And Out Of [his Own] Defiant Feeling.
Feelings
Humanity
Language
Only Great Pain Is, As The Teacher Of Great Suspicion, The Ultimate Liberator Of The Spirit...i Doubt Whether Such Pain Improves Us-but I Do Know It Deepens Us.
Teacher
Pain
Doubt
I Conjure You, My Brethren, To Remain Faithful To Earth, And Do Not Believe Those Who Speak Unto You Of Super Terrestrial Hopes! Poisoners They Are, Whether They Know It Or Not.
Hope
Believe
Faithful
A Man Unconsciously Imagines That Where He Is Strong, Where He Feels Most Thoroughly Alive, The Element Of His Freedom Must Lie.
Strong
Lying
Independent
I Am Alone Again And I Want To Be So; Alone With The Pure Sky And Open Sea.
Sea
Sky
Want
Are You One Who Looks On? Or Lends A Hand? - Or Who Looks Away, Sidles Off?...third Question For The Conscience.
Hands
Looks
Thirds
What Makes Us Heroic?--confronting Simultaneously Our Supreme Suffering And Our Supreme Hope.
Hope
Suffering
Heroic
Whoever Gives Advice To A Sick Person Acquires A Feeling Of Superiority Over Him, Whether The Advice Be Accepted Or Rejected.
Giving
Sick
Advice
What, If Some Day Or Night A Demon Were To Steal After You Into Your Loneliest Loneliness And Say To You: 'this Life As You Now Live It And Have Lived It, You Will Have To Live Once More And Innumerable Times More' ... Would You Not Throw Yourself Down And Gnash Your Teeth And Curse The Demon Who Spoke Thus? Or Have You Once Experienced A Tremendous Moment When You Would Have Answered Him: 'you Are A God And Never Have I Heard Anything More Divine.
Happiness
Loneliness
Sadness
If You Are Considering Marriage, Ask Yourself One Question: Will I Still Enjoy Talking With Her When I'm Old?
Talking
Enjoy
Considering
There Are Instances When We Are Like Horses, We Psychologists, And Grow Restless: We See Our Own Shadow Wavering Up And Down Before Us. A Psychologist Must Look Away From Himself In Order To See Anything At All.
Horse
Order
Shadow
Disobedience- That Is The Nobility Of Slaves.
Slave
Nobility
Disobedience
You I Advise Not To Work, But To Fight. You I Advise Not To Peace, But To Victory. Let Your Work Be A Fight, Let Your Peace Be A Victory!
Fighting
Victory
Advise
The Quality Of A Marriage Is Proven By Its Ability To Tolerate An Occasional "exception.
Marriage
Infidelity
Quality
In The World Of High Finance The Shilling Of The Idle Rich Man Can Buy More Than That Of The Poor, Industrious Man.
Men
World
Finance
Woman Was God's Second Mistake.
Witty
Powerful
Mistake
Courage Is The Best Slayer - Courage Which Attacketh, For In Every Attack There Is The Sound Of Triumph.
Triumph
Sound
Slayer
If Thinking Is Your Fate, Revere This Fate With Divine Honour And Sacrifice To It The Best, The Most Beloved
Fate
Sacrifice
Thinking
[heraclitus] Did Not Require Humans Or Their Sort Of Knowledge, Since Everything Into Which One May Inquire He Despises [as Being] In Contrast [to His Own] Inward-turning Wisdom. [to Him] All Learning From Others Is A Sign Of Nonwisdom, Because The Wise Man Focuses His Vision On His Own Intelligence.
Wise
Men
Vision
You Want To Be Paid As Well, You Virtuous! You Want Reward For Virtue, And Heaven For Earth, And Eternity For Your Today?
Heaven
Charity
Earth
Too Long, The Earth Has Been A Madhouse!
Depression
Long
Earth
I Was In Darkness, But I Took Three Steps And Found Myself In Paradise. The First Step Was A Good Thought, The Second, A Good Word; And The Third, A Good Deed.
Darkness
Three
Deeds
In The True Man There Is A Child Concealed Who Wants To Play.
Children
Fun
Men
As Much As Possible, And This As Quickly As Possible: That Is What The Great Mental And Emotional Illness Craves That Is Variously Called "present" Or "culture," But That Is Actually A Symptom Of Consumption.
Emotional
Culture
Illness
The Vanity Of Others Runs Counter To Our Taste Only When It Runs Counter To Our Vanity.
Running
Vanity
Taste
And So, Onwards... Along A Path Of Wisdom, With A Hearty Tread, A Hearty Confidence.. However You May Be, Be Your Own Source Of Experience. Throw Off Your Discontent About Your Nature. Forgive Yourself Your Own Self. You Have It In Your Power To Merge Everything You Have Lived Through- False Starts, Errors, Delusions, Passions, Your Loves And Your Hopes- Into Your Goal, With Nothing Left Over.
Passion
Errors
Self
I Fear That, With Our Current Veneration For The Natural And The Real, We Have Arrived At The Opposite Pole To All Idealism, And Have Landed In The Region Of The Waxworks.
Real
Opposites
Natural
Every Man Has His Price. This Is Not True. But For Every Man There Exists A Bait Which He Cannot Resist Swallowing. To Win Over Certain People To Something, It Is Only Necessary To Give It A Gloss Of Love Of Humanity, Nobility, Gentleness, Self-sacrifice - And There Is Nothing You Cannot Get Them To Swallow. To Their Souls, These Are The Icing, The Tidbit; Other Kinds Of Souls Have Others.
Sacrifice
Men
Winning
When One Is Young, One Venerates And Despises Without That Art Of Nuances Which Constitutes The Best Gain Of Life, And It Is Only Fair That One Has To Pay Dearly For Having Assaulted Men And Things In This Manner With Yes And No. Everything Is Arranged So That The Worst Of Tastes, The Taste For The Unconditional, Should Be Cruelly Fooled And Abused Until A Man Learns To Put A Little Art Into His Feelings And Rather To Risk Trying Even What Is Artificial — As The Real Artists Of Life Do.
Art
Real
Men
It Is Regrettable That A Dostoyevsky Did Not Live Near This Most Interesting Of All Decadents (jesus Christ) - I Mean Someone Who Would Have Known How To Sense The Very Stirring Charm Of Such A Mixture Of The Sublime, The Sickly, And The Childlike.
Jesus
Mean
Interesting
All That Philosophers Have Handled For Millennia Has Been Conceptual Mummies; Nothing Actual Has Ever Escaped From Their Hands Alive.
Hands
Alive
Philosopher
Trending Author
Norman MacCaig
Cormac McCarthy
George Gissing
Cordell Hull
Ally Sheedy
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