I call a lie: wanting not to see something one does see, wanting not to see something as one sees it... The most common lie is the lie one tells to oneself; lying to others is relatively the exception.

What really raises one's indignation against suffering is not suffering intrinsically, but the senselessness of suffering

A man who possesses genius is insufferable unless he also possesses at least two other things: gratitude and cleanliness.

To be the equal of one's opponent-this is the first condition of an honourable duel.

Invisible threads are the strongest ties.

Whenever the truth is uncovered, the artist will always cling with rapt gaze to what still remains covering even after such uncovering; but the theoretical man enjoys and finds satisfaction in the discarded covering and finds the highest object of his pleasure in the process of an ever happy uncovering that succeeds through his own efforts.

What the philosopher is seeking is not truth, but rather the metamorphosis of the world into man.