If there were gods, how could I endure not to be a god? Therefore there are no gods.

That roguish and cheerful vice, politeness.

This is the hardest of all: to close the open hand out of love, and keep modest as a giver.

Discontent is the seed of ethics.

You are rewarding a teacher poorly if you remain always a pupil.

Art is not merely an imitation of the reality of nature, but in truth a metaphysical supplement to the reality of nature, placed alongside thereof for its conquest.

There is nothing more necessary than truth, and in comparison with it everything else has only secondary value. This absolute will to truth: what is it? Is it the will to not allow ourselves to be deceived? Is it the will not to deceive? One does not want to be deceived, under the supposition that it is injurious, dangerous, or fatal to be deceived.