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.

Nothing in life possesses value except the degree of power--assuming that life itself is the will to power.

But this word will I say to my enemies: What is all manslaughter in comparison with what you have done to me!

Speaking is a beautiful folly; with that man dances over all things.

One should not wrongly reify 'cause' and 'effect,' as the natural scientists do (and whoever, like them, now 'naturalizes' in his thinking), according to the prevailing mechanical doltishness which makes the cause press and push until it 'effects' its end; one should use 'cause' and 'effect' only as pure concepts, that is to say, as conventional fictions for the purpose of designation and communication-not for explanation.

If there is something to pardon in everything, there is also something to condemn.

Strong hope is a much greater stimulant of life than any single realised joy could be.