Liberal institutions straightway cease being liberal the moment they are soundly established: Once this is attained, no more grievous and more thorough enemies of freedom exist than liberal institutions.

When Zarathustra was alone . . . he said to his heart: "Could it be possible! This old saint in the forest hath not yet heard of it, that God is dead!"

Let us beware of saying that death is the opposite of life. The living being is only a species of the dead, and a very rare species.

Every man has his price. This is not true. But for every man there exists a bait which he cannot resist swallowing. To win over certain people to something, it is only necessary to give it a gloss of love of humanity, nobility, gentleness, self-sacrifice - and there is nothing you cannot get them to swallow. To their souls, these are the icing, the tidbit; other kinds of souls have others.

When art dresses itself in the most worn-out material it is most easily recognized as art.

Is life not a thousand times too short for us to bore ourselves?

I overcame myself, the sufferer; I carried my own ashes to the mountains; I invented a brighter flame for myself.