When I was twelve years old I thought up an odd trinity: namely, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Devil. My inference wasthat God, in contemplating himself, created the second person of the godhead; but that, in order to be able to contemplate himself, he had to contemplate, and thus to create, his opposite.--With this I began to do philosophy.

In laughter all that is evil comes together, but is pronounced holy and absolved by its own bliss.

Morality makes stupid.- Custom represents the experiences of men of earlier times as to what they supposed useful and harmful - but the sense for custom (morality) applies, not to these experiences as such, but to the age, the sanctity, the indiscussability of the custom. And so this feeling is a hindrance to the acquisition of new experiences and the correction of customs: that is to say, morality is a hindrance to the development of new and better customs: it makes stupid.

We hear only those questions for which we are in a position to find answers.

Sleeping is no mean art: for its sake one must stay awake all day.

A book is made better by good readers and clearer by good opponents.

The consequence is that every man comes to know himself solely in terms of his power for defence and attack.