 Art is not merely an imitation of the reality of nature, but in truth a metaphysical supplement to the reality of nature, placed alongside thereof for its conquest. |
| This is what is hardest: to close the open hand because one loves. |
| One should die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly. |
| Glance into the world just as though time were gone: and everything crooked will become straight to you. |
| I do not know what the spirit of a philosopher could more wish to be than a good dancer. For the dance is his ideal, also his fine art, finally also the only kind of piety he knows, his "divine service." |
| When one does away with oneself one does the most estimable thing possible: one thereby almost deserves to live. |
| Great indebtedness does not make men grateful, but vengeful; and if a little charity is not forgotten, it turns into a gnawing worm. |
| I still live, I still think: I still have to live, for I still have to think. |
| In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point. |
| I love those who do not know how to live for today. |
| One may sometimes tell a lie, but the grimace that accompanies it tells the truth. |
| Idleness is the parent of psychology. |
| Fanatics are picturesque, mankind would rather see gestures than listen to reasons. |
| There is nothing we like to communicate to others as much as the seal of secrecy together with what lies under it. |
| The demand to be loved is the greatest of all arrogant presumptions. |
| 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. |
| Character is determined more by the lack of certain experiences than by those one has had. |
| All sciences are now under the obligation to prepare the ground for the future task of the philosopher, which is to solve the problem of value, to determine the true hierarchy of values. |
| All truth is simple... is that not doubly a lie? |
| Mystical explanations are thought to be deep; the truth is that they are not even shallow. |
