Such men alone are my readers, my proper readers, my preordained readers. Of what account are the rest? The rest are simply... humanity. One must be superior to humanity in power, in loftiness of soul- in contempt.

What is wanted - whether this is admitted or not - is nothing less than a fundamental remolding, indeed weakening and abolition of the individual: one never tires of enumerating and indicating all that is evil and inimical, prodigal, costly, extravagant in the form individual existence has assumed hitherto, one hopes to manage more cheaply, more safely, more equitably, more uniformly if there exist only large bodies and their members.

There is a certain right by which we many deprive a man of life, but none by which we may deprive him of death; this is mere cruelty.

To be natural means to dare to be as immoral as Nature is.

It is the business of the very few to be independent; it is a privilege of the strong.

Clever people are never credited with their follies: what a deprivation of human rights!

A few hours of mountain climbing make a blackguard and a saint two rather similar creatures.