The tragedy is that we cannot believe the dogmas of religion and metaphysics if we have the strict methods of truth in heart and head, but on the other hand, we have become through the development of humanity so tenderly suffering that we need the highest kind of means of salvation and consolation: whence arises the danger that man may bleed to death through the truth that he realises.

How much rationality and higher protection there is in such self-deception, and how much falseness I still require in order to allow myself again and again the luxury of my sincerity.

There is a universal need to exercise some kind of power, or to create for one's self the appearance of some power, if only temporarily, in the form of intoxication.

At present I am light, now I fly, now I see myself below me, now a god dances through me.

If a woman possesses manly virtues, she is to be run away from; and if she does not possess them, she runs away herself.

Spirit is the life that itself cuts into life: with its own torment it increases its own knowledge. Did you already know that?

That which does not destroy, strengthens.