Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes

A collection of quotes by Friedrich Nietzsche.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a German philosopher, poet, and cultural critic. Born in the town of Röcken, Prussia, Nietzsche developed a keen interest in literature, music, and classical studies from an early age. He went on to study philology, focusing on ancient Greek and Roman texts, at the University of Bonn and later at the University of Leipzig.

Throughout his intellectual career, Nietzsche challenged traditional moral and religious values, advocating for a reevaluation of prevailing beliefs. His most famous works include "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," "Beyond Good and Evil," and "On the Genealogy of Morality." Nietzsche's philosophy emphasized the concept of the "Übermensch" or "Superman" – an individual who transcends societal norms, embraces personal will, and lives according to their own values.

However, Nietzsche's ideas were often misinterpreted, leading to accusations of nihilism and moral relativism. In his later years, Nietzsche suffered from deteriorating mental and physical health, ultimately succumbing to mental illness and living the last years of his life in seclusion. Despite his troubled final years, Nietzsche's writings have had a lasting influence on various fields, including philosophy, literature, psychology, and art.

Nietzsche's work continues to be widely studied and debated, with scholars exploring themes such as the nature of truth, the role of religion, the impact of power structures, and the subjective nature of morality. His ideas have had a profound impact on existentialism, postmodernism, and the development of Western thought in the 20th century.

The Thought of Death. It gives me a melancholy happiness to live in the midst of this confusion of streets, of necessities, of voices: how much enjoyment, impatience and desire, how much thirsty life and drunkenness of life comes to light here every moment! And yet it will soon be so still for all these shouting, lively, life- loving people! How everyone's shadow, his gloomy travelling companion stands behind him! It is always as in the last moment before the departure of an emigrant- ship: people have more than ever to say to one another, the hour presses, the ocean with its lonely silence waits impatiently behind all the noise-so greedy, so certain of its prey! And all, all, suppose that the past has been nothing, or a small matter, that the near future is everything: hence this haste, this crying, this self-deafening and self-overreaching! Everyone wants to be foremost in this future-and yet death and the stillness of death are the only things certain and common to all in this future! How strange that this sole thing that is certain and common to all, exercises almost no influence on men, and that they are the furthest from regarding themselves as the brotherhood of death! It makes me happy to see that men do not want to think at all of the idea of death! I would fain do something to make the idea of life to us to be more than friends in the sense of that sublime possibility. And so we will believe in our even a hundred times more worthy of their attention.

Friedrich Nietzsche