When an idea is just rising on the horizon, the soul's temperature with respect to it is usually very cold. Only gradually does the idea develop its warmth, and it is hottest (which is to say, exerting its greatest influence) when belief in the idea is already once again in decline.

With one more talent one frequently stands with greater instability than with one less, as a table stands better on three legs than on four.

When a man has just been greatly honored and has eaten a little he is the most generous.

Nihilism: any aim is lacking, any answer to the question "why" is lacking. What does nihilism mean?--that the supreme values devaluate themselves.

The idealist is incorrigible: if he is thrown out of his heaven he makes an ideal of his hell.

It is some fundamental certainty which a noble soul has about itself, something which is not to be sought, is not to be found, and perhaps, also, is not to be lost. The noble soul has reverence for itself.

Life without music is no life at all.