Friedrich Nietzsche

God is dead, existentialism

Modern influential 186 sayings

Sayings by Friedrich Nietzsche

A man who has a 'why' to live, can bear almost any 'how'.

1889 — Twilight of the Idols
Humorous Confirmed

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.

1886 — Beyond Good and Evil
Humorous Confirmed

Is man merely a mistake of God's? Or God merely a mistake of man's?

1889 — Twilight of the Idols
Humorous Unverifiable

One should not talk much about oneself, when one has done nothing.

1878 — Human, All Too Human
Humorous Unverifiable

What is good? All that enhances the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself in man. What is bad? All that originates in weakness. What is happiness? The feeling that power is growing, that resistance is overcome.

1888 — The Antichrist
Humorous Unverifiable

Many a man is too proud to beg, and too poor to starve.

1878 — Human, All Too Human
Humorous Unverifiable

He who has seen the world as a whole, can it be that he has not also seen it as a joke?

1883-1885 — Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Humorous Unverifiable

The most common lie is that with which one lies to oneself; lying to others is relatively an exception.

1888 — The Antichrist
Humorous Confirmed

He who cannot give anything, cannot feel anything.

1883-1885 — Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Humorous Unverifiable

There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.

1883-1885 — Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Humorous Unverifiable

And if you are a friend of wisdom, then do not be a friend of the mob.

1883-1885 — Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Humorous Unverifiable

To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.

c. 1880s — Attributed, but precise source is debated; often linked to 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' themes.
Humorous Unverifiable

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?

1882 — The Gay Science
Humorous Unverifiable

One loves ultimately one's desires, not the thing desired.

1886 — Beyond Good and Evil
Humorous Confirmed

What does your conscience say? 'You should become the person you are.'

1882 — The Gay Science
Humorous Unverifiable

The best way to spend the day is to run it in such a way that you don't even need to remember it.

1878 — Human, All Too Human
Humorous Unverifiable

All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.

1889 — Twilight of the Idols
Humorous Unverifiable

The 'great man' is a great bow from which great arrows are shot.

1883-1885 — Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Humorous Unverifiable

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.

1883-1885 — Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Humorous Unverifiable

All literature is a lie.

c. 1872 — Writings on Rhetoric
Humorous Unverifiable