Madness is not a consequence of uncertainty but of certainty.

Do not talk about giftedness, inborn talents! One can assume great men of all kinds who were very little gifted. They acquired greatness, became “geniuses” (as we put it), through qualities the lack of which no one who knew what they were would boast of: they all possessed that seriousness of the efficient workman which first learns to construct the parts properly before it ventures to fashion a great whole; they allowed themselves time for it, because they took more pleasure in making the little, secondary things well than in the effect of a dazzling whole.

If you look long enough into the void, the void begins to look back through you.

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

One often contradicts an opinion when what is uncongenial is really the tone in which it was conveyed.

One must separate from anything that forces one to repeat No again and again.

If you are too weak to give yourselves your own law, then a tyrant shall lay his yoke upon you and say: "Obey! Clench your teeth and obey!" And all good and evil shall be drowned in obedience to him.