Moderation sees itself as beautiful; it is unaware that in the eye of the immoderate it appears black and sober and consequently ugly-looking.

One loves ultimately one's desires, not the thing desired.

The sick are the greatest danger for the healthy; it is not from the strongest that harm comes to the strong, but from the weakest.

The love of power is the demon of mankind.

Freedom of opinion is like health; both are individual, and no good general conception can be set up of either of them.

To do great things is difficult; but to command great things is more difficult.

Their usual mistaken premise is that they affirm some consensus among people, at least among tame peoples, concerning certain moral principles, and then conclude that these principles must be unconditionally binding also for you and me-or conversely, they see that among different peoples moral valuations are necessarily different and infer from this that no morality is binding-both of which are equally childish.