To have to fight the instincts - that is the definition of decadence: as long as life is ascending, happiness equals instinct.

Triumph depends on a roll of Fate's dice; the ultimate prize is a place in Heaven.

I love him who scattereth golden words in advance of his deeds, and always doeth more than he promiseth: for he seeketh his own down-going.

In compassionate men, severity is a virtue.

The soul must have its chosen sewers to carry away its ordure. This function is performed by persons, relationships, professions, the fatherland, the world, or finally, for the really arrogant - I mean our modern pessimists - by the Good God himself.

Through searching out origins, one becomes a crab. The historian looks backwards, and finally he also believes backwards.

Beyond Good and Evil, Aphorism 153