150 Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes on Life, Success & Nihilism

In the realm of philosophy, few figures provoke as much intrigue and debate as Friedrich Nietzsche. With his piercing insights into the human condition and his audacious rejection of conventional morality, Nietzsche’s words resonate through time, enticing readers to explore their depths. 

His quotes challenge us to confront uncomfortable truths about existence, pushing boundaries in ways that can be both liberating and unsettling. Whether he is critiquing religion or advocating for the creation of one’s own values, Nietzsche’s thoughts are a clarion call to embrace life with fervor and authenticity.

As we navigate an increasingly complex world filled with conflicting ideologies and existential dilemmas, Nietzsche’s quotes serve as powerful reminders of the importance of individuality and self-exploration. Each aphorism is like a philosophical spark that ignites curiosity, inviting us to question everything we know about morality, happiness, and our place in the universe. 

In this article on Friedrich Nietzsche quotes, we will delve into some of his most striking assertions phrases that have inspired countless thinkers while leaving others pondering their implications for modern life.

Who is Friedrich Nietzsche?

Friedrich Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) emerged as a formidable figure in philosophy, yet his journey began in the realm of classical philology.

As the youngest individual to assume the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel by age 24, he displayed prodigious intellect and passion for ancient texts. 

It was his transition from scholar to philosopher that sparked a transformative wave through modern thought. Nietzsche’s works, characterized by their incisive critiques on morality and culture, challenged prevailing notions while inviting readers to reconsider their values in an ever complex world.

Grappling with chronic health issues led Nietzsche to retire early from academia; this adversity fueled his prolific writing period where he crafted iconic concepts such as the Übermensch and eternal recurrence.

Friedrich Nietzsche Profile Summary

Name	Friedrich Nietzsche
Father’s Name	Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
Mother’s Name	Rosa Nietzsche
Date of Birth	October 15, 1844
Date of Death	August 25, 1900
Nationality	German
Friedrich Nietzsche Age	55 years
Gender	Male
Friedrich Nietzsche Height	Approximately 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Friedrich Nietzsche Weight	Approximately 145 lbs (66 kg)
Astrological Sign	Libra
Net Worth	Not specifically documented
Place of Birth	Röcken, Prussia (now Germany)
Primary Sources of Income	Philosophy, Writing
Occupation	Writer

Best Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes

One of his most potent quotes, He who has a why to live can bear almost any how, invites reflection on the depth of purpose in our lives.

It compels us to consider what drives us through life’s adversities, whether it’s love, ambition, or a quest for wisdom.

• Those who cannot understand how to put their thoughts on ice should not enter into the heat of debate.”
• It is impossible to suffer without making someone pay for it; every complaint already contains revenge.”
• You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”
• 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.”
• Character is determined more by the lack of certain experiences than by those one has had.”
• 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.”
• The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.”
• The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys the same good things for the first time.”
• There are two different types of people in the world, those who want to know, and those who want to believe.”
• Remorse.– Never yield to remorse, but at once tell yourself: remorse would simply mean adding to the first act of stupidity a second.

Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes on Life

His reflections on life encourage us to embrace existence with all its complexities, embodying a philosophy that celebrates both joy and suffering.

One of his most poignant quotes reminds us that to live is to suffer. Yet, rather than viewing suffering as merely a burden, Nietzsche sees it as an essential component of personal growth and transformation.

• To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.”
• No one can construct for you the bridge upon which precisely you must cross the stream of life, no one but you yourself alone.”
• Lying is a condition of life.”
• Regarding life, the wisest men of all ages have judged alike: it is worthless.”
• Is life not a thousand times too short for us to bore ourselves?”
• 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.”
• I still live, I still think: I still have to live, for I still have to think.

Nietzsche Quotes on Nihilism

When he famously declared, God is dead, it was not just an assertion of atheism but a profound acknowledgment of the void left by the collapse of traditional values.

This quote encapsulates the existential crisis faced when long-held beliefs crumble, urging us to confront the abyss and seek meaning in a seemingly indifferent universe.

• One has to pay dearly for immortality; one has to die several times while one is still alive.”
• Existence really is an imperfect tense that never becomes a present.”
• Do whatever you will, but first be as you are able to will.”
• One should die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly.”
• It is always consoling to think of suicide: in that way one gets through many a bad night.”
• Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings – always darker, emptier and simpler.”
• Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.”
• A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.

Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes on Success

He posits that true success lies not in external validation but in the courage to pursue one’s own path relentlessly.

In his view, the will to power isn’t merely a quest for dominance; it’s about crafting our own identities and embracing risks along the way.

• Success has always been a great liar.”
• Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal.”
• One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.”
• The higher we soar the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly.”
• How could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes?”
• That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”
• To forget one’s purpose is the commonest form of stupidity.”
• Whenever I climb I am followed by a dog called ‘Ego’.”
• The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes on Woman

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• Stupidity in a woman is unfeminine.”
• Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more frequent.”
• Stupid as a man, say the women: cowardly as a woman, say the men. Stupidity in a woman is unwomanly.”
• If a woman possesses manly virtues one should run away from her; and if she does not possess them she runs away from herself.”
• Behind all their personal vanity, women themselves always have an impersonal contempt for women.”
• Women are considered deep – why? Because one can never discover any bottom to them. Women are not even shallow.”
• The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants women, as the most dangerous plaything.”
• Woman was God’s second mistake.”
• For the woman, the man is a means: the end is always the child.”
• It is the most sensual men who need to flee women and torment their bodies.

Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes on Truth

His exploration of truth challenges conventional wisdom, inviting us to reconsider the foundations upon which we build our beliefs.

One of his striking assertions is that truth is a mobile army of metaphors, emphasizing that what we consider objective truths are often mere constructs shaped by language and culture.

• Truth can surely stand on one leg, but with two it will be able to walk and get around.”
• 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.”
• Silence is worse; all truths that are kept silent become poisonous.”
• Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.”
• All truth is simple… is that not doubly a lie?”
• We have art in order not to die of the truth.”
• One may sometimes tell a lie, but the grimace that accompanies it tells the truth.”
• There are various eyes. Even the Sphinx has eyes: and as a result there are various truths, and as a result there is no truth.”
• All credibility, all good conscience, all evidence of truth comes only from the senses.”
• Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.”
• There are no eternal facts, as there are no absolute truths.”
• The most common lie is that which one lies to himself; lying to others is relatively an exception.

Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes on Love

His quotes on love transcend simple sentimentality, the complexities of human relationships, revealing how love can be both a destructive force and a catalyst for personal growth.

One striking insight is Nietzsche’s assertion that genuine love can bring us closer to our true selves. He suggests that in the act of loving deeply, we confront our vulnerabilities, leading to profound self-discovery.

• This is what is hardest: to close the open hand because one loves.”
• Ultimately, it is the desire, not the desired, that we love.”
• Of all that is written, I love only what a person has written with his own blood.”
• What do I care about the purring of one who cannot love, like the cat?”
• Love is not consolation. It is light.”
• This is the hardest of all: to close the open hand out of love, and keep modest as a giver.”
• A pair of powerful spectacles has sometimes sufficed to cure a person in love.”
• The demand to be loved is the greatest of all arrogant presumptions.”
• There is always some madness in love. But there is always some reason for madness.”
• Whatever is done for love always occurs beyond good and evil.”
• We love life, not because we are used to living but because we are used to loving.

Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes on Morality

One of his most striking assertions is encapsulated in the idea that morality is the herd instinct in the individual.

This perspective challenges readers to reconsider whether ethical systems serve as genuine guides for human behavior or merely mechanisms for social control.

• Fear is the mother of morality.”
• To be ashamed of one’s immorality: that is a step on the staircase at whose end one is also ashamed of one’s morality.”
• Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual.”
• In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.”
• There are no moral phenomena at all, but only a moral interpretation of phenomena.

Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes on Knowledge

He often posited that knowledge is not merely an accumulation of facts, but rather an intricate interplay of perspectives shaped by individual experiences.

Nietzsche famously stated, There are no facts, only interpretations, encouraging us to recognize that our grasp of knowledge is filtered through subjective lenses.

• The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.”
• It is not when truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, that the lover of knowledge is reluctant to step into its waters.”
• Our treasure lies in the beehive of our knowledge. We are perpetually on the way thither, being by nature winged insects and honey gatherers of the mind.”
• The doer alone learneth.”
• In large states public education will always be mediocre, for the same reason that in large kitchens the cooking is usually bad.”
• 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.

Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes on Power

One of his striking assertions posits that power is an essential driving force in life, declaring that He who has a reason to live can bear almost any how.

This profound connection between purpose and resilience offers insight into our struggles for empowerment in a world often fraught with adversity.

• What is good? All that heightens the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself in man.”
• I assess the power of a will by how much resistance, pain, torture it endures and knows how to turn to its advantage.”
• Not necessity, not desire – no, the love of power is the demon of men. Let them have everything – health, food, a place to live, entertainment – they are and remain unhappy and low-spirited.”
• All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.”
• On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.

Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes on Marriage & Friendships

His reflections on marriage and friendships often illuminate the complexities of human relationships, urging us to reconsider societal norms.

He famously stated that “It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.” resonates deeply in today’s fast-paced world where emotional connections can be overshadowed by routine obligations.

• It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.”
• When marrying, ask yourself this question: Do you believe that you will be able to converse well with this person into your old age? Everything else in marriage is transitory.”
• Love is blind; friendship closes its eyes.”
• A woman may very well form a friendship with a man, but for this to endure, it must be assisted by a little physical antipathy.”
• Go up close to your friend, but do not go over to him! We should also respect the enemy in our friend.”
• Rejoicing in our joy, not suffering over our suffering, makes someone a friend.”
• Shared joys make a friend, not shared sufferings.”
• A friend should be a master at guessing and keeping still: you must not want to see everything.”

Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes on God

One of his most famous quotes, “God is dead,” serves not only as a declaration of the declining influence of traditional religion but also as an invitation to explore the depths of individual meaning.

This assertion challenges us to confront the void left by metaphysical certainties and encourages a radical re-evaluation of our values.

• God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.”
• The word ‘Christianity’ is already a misunderstanding – in reality there has been only one Christian, and he died on the Cross.”
• Is man one of God’s blunders? Or is God one of man’s blunders?”
• God is a thought who makes crooked all that is straight.”
• I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time.”
• There cannot be a God because if there were one, I could not believe that I was not He.”
• After coming into contact with a religious man I always feel I must wash my hands.”
• There is not enough love and goodness in the world. In heaven, all the interesting people are missing.

Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes on Writing

He believed that the act of writing is not merely a mechanical task; it embodies an existential quest. As he famously stated, It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.

• The best author will be the one who is ashamed to become a writer.”
• A great value of antiquity lies in the fact that its writings are the only ones that modern men still read with exactness.”
• A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.”
• It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.”
• All I need is a sheet of paper.”
• And something to write with, and then I can turn the world upside down.

Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes on Human Nature

His assertion that He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster transcends the mere caution against villainy; it probes into the transformations we undergo when faced with darkness.

• In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”
• Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
• The future influences the present just as much as the past.”
• In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play.”
• Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs; he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter.”
• 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. ”
• One ought to hold on to one’s heart; for if one lets it go, one soon loses control of the head too.”
• We often refuse to accept an idea merely because the tone of voice in which it has been expressed is unsympathetic to us.”
• 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.”
• When a hundred men stand together, each of them loses his mind and gets another one.”
• What do you regard as most humane? To spare someone shame.

Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes on Art

A titan of philosophical thought, saw art as a profound reflection of human experience and aspiration. His assertion encapsulates this view, suggesting that artistic expression serves as a vital counterbalance to the harsh realities of existence.

• The bad gains respect through imitation, the good loses it especially in art.”
• Art is the proper task of life.”
• The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.”
• An artist has no home in Europe except in Paris.”
• When art dresses in worn-out material it is most easily recognized as art.”
• I do not know what the spirit of a philosopher could wish to be more 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.’”
• For art to exist, for any sort of aesthetic activity to exist, a certain physiological precondition is indispensable: intoxication.”

Short Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes

Short Friedrich Nietzsche quotes pack profound philosophical weight into concise phrases, inviting readers to contemplate the essence of existence.

One such quote, “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how,” challenges us to examine our motivations and the driving forces behind our actions.

• He who has a reason to live can bear almost any how.”
• There are no facts, only interpretations.”
• When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.”
• When one has not had a good father, one must create one.”
• The best weapon against an enemy is another enemy.”
• Blessed are the forgetful: for they get the better even of their blunders.”
• He who laughs best today, will also laugh last.”
• There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.”
• In everything one thing is impossible: rationality.”
• We hear only those questions for which we are in a position to find answers.”
• He who cannot give anything away cannot feel anything either.”
• Our vanity is hardest to wound precisely when our pride has just been wounded.”
• Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself.”
• If there is something to pardon in everything, there is also something to condemn.”
• No one lies so boldly as the man who is indignant.”
• Invisible threads are the strongest ties.”
• And once you are awake, you shall remain awake eternally.”
• One must be a sea, to receive a polluted stream without becoming impure.”
• There are no beautiful surfaces without a terrible depth.”
• Plato was a bore.”
• Egoism is the very essence of a noble soul.”
• I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”
• When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago.”
• We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.”
• The lonely one offers his hand too quickly to whomever he encounters.”
• You must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame.”
• Every deep thinker is more afraid of being understood than of being misunderstood.

Conclusion

Friedrich Nietzsche quotes on life, success, and nihilism, we uncover a rich tapestry of thought that challenges conventional beliefs and encourages personal growth. His provocative statements compel us to confront the often uncomfortable truths about existence and the importance of forging our own paths.

Nietzsche’s emphasis on individual will and the creation of meaning in a seemingly indifferent universe resonates deeply in today’s fast-paced world. By embracing his philosophy, we can cultivate resilience and find purpose amid chaos.

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