No artist tolerates reality.

The life of the enemy . Whoever lives for the sake of combating an enemy has an interest in the enemy's staying alive.

What else is love but understanding and rejoicing in the fact that another person lives acts and experiences otherwise than we do?

It is a self-deception of philosophers and moralists to imagine that they escape decadence by opposing it. That is beyond their will; and, however little they acknowledge it, one later discovers that they were among the most powerful promoters of decadence.

Reckoned physiologically, everything ugly weakens and afflicts man. It recalls decay, danger, impotence; he actually suffers a loss of energy in its presence. The effect of the ugly can be measured with a dynamometer. Whenever man feels in any way depressed, he senses the proximity of something ugly. His feeling of power, his will to power, his courage, his pride - they decline with the ugly, they increase with the beautiful.

The usual false conclusions of mankind are these: a thing exists, therefore it has a right to exist.

Moderation sees itself as beautiful; it is unaware that in the eye of the immoderate it appears black and sober and consequently ugly-looking.