Live dangerously. Build your cities on the slopes of Vesuvius.

Heavy, heavy-hearted people grow lighter and rise occasionally to their surface through precisely that which makes others heavier,through hatred and love.

What was formerly merely sickly now becomes indecent : it is indecent to be a Christian today.

I awoke you from your sleep because I saw that you were having a nightmare. And now you are cross and say to me: "What are we supposed to do now? Everything is still night!" You ingrates! You should go to sleep again and dream better.

Nihilism: any aim is lacking, any answer to the question "why" is lacking. What does nihilism mean?--that the supreme values devaluate themselves.

One has to know the size of one's stomach.

Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs; he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter.