Sins are indispensable to every society organized on an ecclesiastical basis; they are the only reliable weapons of power; the priest lives upon sins; it is necessary to him that there be sinning.

We have to learn how to come out of unclean situations cleaner than we were, and even how to wash ourselves with dirty water whenwe need to.

Whatever we have words for, that we have already got beyond.

Genteel women suppose that those things do not really exist about which it is impossible to talk in polite company.

When one thinks profusely and cleverly, not only his face but his body too takes on a clever appearance.

Man alone suffers so excruciatingly in the world that he was compelled to invent laughter.

The superman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the superman is to be the meaning of the earth! I beseech you, my brothers, be true to the earth, and do not believe those who speak to you of otherworldly hopes! They are poisoners, whether they know it or not.