Can an ass be tragic?--To perish under a burden that one can neither bear nor cast off? The case of the philosopher.

A matter that becomes clear ceases to concern us.--What was that god thinking who counseled, "Know thyself!" Did he perhaps mean,"Cease to concern yourself! Become objective!"--And Socrates?--And "scientific men"?

It is impossible to suffer without making someone pay for it; every complaint already contains revenge.

The Antichrist, Section 7

Even truthfulness is but one means to knowledge, a ladder--but not the ladder.

The perfect woman perpetrates literature as she perpetrates a small sin: as an experiment, in passing, glancing around to see whether anybody notices--and to make sure that somebody notices.

Evaluation is creation: hear it, you creators! Evaluating is itself the most valuable treasure of all that we value. It is only through evaluation that value exists: and without evaluation the nut of existence would be hollow. Hear it, you creators!