Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
To one who is accustomed to thinking a lot, every new thought that he hears or reads about immediately appears as a link in a chain.
Great indebtedness does not make men grateful, but vengeful; and if a little charity is not forgotten, it turns into a gnawing worm.
I am a forest, and a night of dark trees: but he who is not afraid of my darkness, will find banks full of roses under my cypresses.
Let us beware of saying that death is the opposite of life. The living being is only a species of the dead, and a very rare species.
Virtues are dangerous as vices insofar as they are allowed to rule over one as authorities and not as qualities one develops oneself.
Whatever the State saith is a lie; whatever it hath is a theft: all is counterfeit in it, the gnawing, sanguinary, insatiate monster.
The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.
He who rejoices even at the stake triumphs not over pain but over the absence of pain where he had anticipated feeling it. A parable.
He who knows himself to be profound endeavors to be clear; he who would like to appear profound to the crowd endeavors to be obscure.
Remorse.-- Never yield to remorse, but at once tell yourself: remorse would simply mean adding to the first act of stupidity a second.
Thus do I want man and woman to be: the one fit to wage war and the other fit to give birth, but both fit to dance with head and feet.
He who cannot command himself should obey. And many can command themselves, but much is still lacking before they can obey themselves.
There will be but few people who, when at a loss for topics of conversation, will not reveal the more secret affairs of their friends.
There is an innocence in admiration; it is found in those to whom it has never yet occurred that they, too, might be admired some day.
Every achievement, every step forward in knowledge, is the consequence of courage, of toughness towards oneself, of sincerity to oneself
What is the task of higher education? To make a man into a machine. What are the means employed? He is taught how to suffer being bored.
Whoever regards human beings as a herd and flees them as swiftly as he can will no doubt be overtaken by them and impaled on theirhorns.
...lust is only a sweet poison for the weakling, but for those who will with a lion's heart it is the reverently reserved wine of wines.
I see many soldiers; could I but see many warriors! "Uniform" one calleth what they wear; may it not be uniform what they therewith hide!
They would have to sing better songs for me to learn to have faith in their Redeemer; and his disciples would have to look more redeemed!
There will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends on how you use them.
To call a thing good not a day longer than it appears to us good, and above all not a day earlier - that is the only way to keep joy pure.
Genuine historical knowledge requires nobility of character, a profound understanding of human existence - not detachment and objectivity.
Ten times must you laugh during the day, and be cheerful; otherwise your stomach, the father of affliction, will disturb you in the night.
But thought is one thing, the deed is another, and the image of the deed still another: the wheel of causality does not roll between them.
There are two types of genius; one which above all begets and wants to beget, and another which prefers being fertilized and giving birth.
One can only be silent and sit peacefully when one hath arrow and bow; otherwise one prateth and quarrelleth. Let your peace be a victory!
There are slavish souls who carry their appreciation for favors done them so far that they strangle themselves with the rope of gratitude.
Whoever thinks much and to good purpose easily forgets his own experiences, but not the thoughts which these experiences have called forth.
I love him who is ashamed when the dice fall in his favour, and who then asketh: "Am I a dishonest player?" - for he is willing to succumb.
The most serious parody I have ever heard was this: In the beginning was nonsense, and the nonsense was with God, and the nonsense was God.
People who have given us their complete confidence believe that they have a right to ours. The inference is false, a gift confers no rights.
He who speaks a bit of a foreign language has more delight in it than he who speaks it well; pleasure goes along with superficial knowledge.
With one more talent one frequently stands with greater instability than with one less, as a table stands better on three legs than on four.
I love him whose soul is lavish, who wanteth no thanks and doth not give back: for he always bestoweth, and desireth not to keep for himself.
He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?
A very popular error: having the courage of one's convictions; rather it is a matter of having the courage for an attack on one's convictions.
Arrogance on the part of the meritorious is even more offensive to us than the arrogance of those without merit: for merit itself is offensive.
The doctrine of equality! There exists no more poisonous poison: for it seems to be preached by justice itself, while it is the end of justice.
I love him who is of a free spirit and a free heart: thus is his head only the bowels of his heart; his heart, however, causeth his down-going.
Immature is the love of the youth, and immature his hatred of man and earth. His mind and the wings of his spirit are still tied down and heavy.
But he who is hated by the people, as the wolf by the dogs - is the free spirit, the enemy of fetters, the non-adorer, the dweller in the woods.
And if your friend does evil to you, say to him, ''I forgive you for what you did to me, but how can I forgive you for what you did to yourself?
He divines remedies against injuries; he knows how to turn serious accidents to his own advantage; whatever does not kill him makes him stronger
Did you ever say yes to a pleasure? oh my friends, then you also said yes to all pain. all things are linked, entwined, in love with one another.
The end of a melody is not its goal; but nonetheless, if the melody had not reached its end it would not have reached its goal either. A parable.
A man far oftener appears to have a decided character from persistently following his temperament than from persistently following his principles.
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.
The belief in authority is the source of conscience; which is therefore not the voice of God in the heart of man, but the voice of some men in man.
Either one does not dream, or one does so interestingly. One should learn to spend one's waking life in the same way: not at all, or interestingly.