Lightning and thunder need time, the light of the stars needs time, deeds need time, even after they are done, to be seen and heard.

Liberalism is the transformation of mankind into cattle.

A little poison now and then: that makes for pleasant dreams. And a lot of poison at the end, for a pleasant death.

One pays dearly for being immortal: one must die many times during his life.

Against war one might say that it makes the victor stupid and the vanquished malicious. In its favor, that in producing these two effects it barbarizes, and so makes the combatants more natural. For culture it is a sleep or a wintertime, and man emerges from it stronger for good and for evil.

There is sense in hoping for recognition in a distant future only when we take it for granted that mankind will remain essentially unchanged, and that whatever is great is not for one age only but will be looked upon as great for all time.

The great man fights the elements in his time that hinder his own greatness, in other words his own freedom and sincerity.