If you’re looking for the best collection of Friedrich Nietzsche quotes then look no further.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, simply known as Nietzsche, was a German philosopher, cultural critic, composer, poet, philologist and scholar whose work has exerted a profound influence on 20th and early-21st century thinkers across philosophy—as well as art, literature, psychology, politics and popular culture.
He began his career as a classical philologist before turning to philosophy. He became the youngest ever to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in 1869 at the age of 24.
Nietzsche resigned in 1879 due to health problems that plagued him most of his life; he completed much of his core writing in the following decade. In 1889, at age 44, he suffered a collapse and afterward a complete loss of his mental faculties. He lived in the care of his mother and then sister until he died in 1900, aged 55 years old.
His body of work touched a wide range of topics, including art, philology, history, religion, tragedy, culture, and science.
Below you’ll find the best Friedrich Nietzsche quotes on love, life, art, individuality and success. I hope these inspirational Nietzsche quotes provide you with the philosophy and wisdom to help you achieve your goals and dreams.
Best Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes
1. “To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.” – Friedrich Nietzsche (This is one of the most famous Friedrich Nietzsche quotes.)
2. “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
3. “Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
4. “No price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
5. “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
6. “There will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends on how you use them.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
7. “What is good? — All that heightens the feelings of power, the will to power, power itself in man.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
8. “What is bad? — All that proceeds from weakness.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
9. “What is happiness? — The feeling that power increases — that a resistance is overcome.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
10. “My concept of freedom. — The worth of a thing lies sometimes not in what one attains with it, but in what one pays for it — what it costs us.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
11. “Man is the only animal that must be encouraged to live.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
12. “Today as always, men fall into two groups: slaves and free men. Whoever does not have two-thirds of his day for himself, is a slave, whatever he may be: a statesman, a businessman, an official, or a scholar.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
13. “The higher we soar, the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
14. “A matter that becomes clear ceases to concern us.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
15. “One repays a teacher badly if one always remains nothing but a pupil.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
16. “Character is determined more by the lack of certain experiences than by those one has had.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
17. “When one has a great deal to put into it a day has a hundred pockets. – Friedrich Nietzsche
18. “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
19. “One ought to hold on to one’s heart; for if one lets it go, one soon loses control of the head too.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
20. “The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
21. “The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
22. “I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
23. “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
24. “What does your conscience say? — ‘You should become the person you are’.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
25. “Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
26. “One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
27. “The secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
28. “He who cannot obey himself will be commanded. That is the nature of living creatures.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
29. “I was in darkness, but I took three steps and found myself in paradise. The first step was a good thought, the second, a good word; and the third, a good deed.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
30. “I know of no better life purpose than to perish in attempting the great and the impossible.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
31. “People are always angry at anyone who chooses very individual standards for his life; because of the extraordinary treatment which that man grants to himself, they feel degraded, like ordinary beings.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
32. “All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
33. “Every deep thinker is more afraid of being understood than of being misunderstood.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
34. “Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings — always darker, emptier and simpler.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
35. “He who climbs upon the highest mountains laughs at all tragedies, real or imaginary.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
36. “A thought, even a possibility, can shatter and transform us.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
37. “There is an old illusion. It is called good and evil.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
38. “Is life not a thousand times too short for us to bore ourselves?” – Friedrich Nietzsche
39. “He who cannot give anything away cannot feel anything either.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
40. “Not necessity, not desire – no, the love of power is the demon of men. Let them have everything – health, food, a place to live, entertainment – they are and remain unhappy and low-spirited: for the demon waits and waits and will be satisfied.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
41. “A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions–as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
42. “Without music, life would be a mistake.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
43. “We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
44. “The world itself is the will to power – and nothing else! And you yourself are the will to power – and nothing else!” – Friedrich Nietzsche
45. “No power can be maintained when it is only represented by hypocrites.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
46. “Be generous in nature and thought; for this wins respect and gives confidence and power.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
47. “Life is an instinct for growth, for survival, for the accumulation of forces, for power.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
48. “Distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
49. “There’s no defense against stupidity.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
50. “Necessity is not an established fact, but an interpretation.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
51. “He who despises himself, nevertheless esteems himself thereby, as a despiser.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
52. “Fear is the mother of morals.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
53. “Success has always been the greatest liar.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
54. “Our destiny rules over us, even when we are not yet aware of it; it is the future that makes laws for our today.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
55. “He whom the flame of jealousy encompasseth, turneth at last, like the scorpion, the poisoned sting against himself.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
56. “Let us be on our guard against saying that death is contrary to life. The living being is only a species of dead being, and a very rare species.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
57. “Many a man fails to become a thinker for the sole reason that his memory is too good.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
58. “One does not hate as long as one disesteems, but only when one esteems equal or superior.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
59. “Our treasure is there, where stand the hives of our knowledge.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
60. “I still live, I still think; I must still live, for I must still think.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
61. “Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
62. “There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
63. “We hear only those questions for which we are in a position to find answers.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
64. “He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
65. “People who have given us their complete confidence believe that they have a right to ours. The inference is false, a gift confers no rights.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
66. “The future influences the present just as much as the past.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
67. “That which needs to be proved cannot be worth much.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
68. “To do great things is difficult, but to command great things is more difficult.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
69. “The person lives most beautifully who does not reflect upon existence.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
70. “If you believed more in life you would fling yourself less to the moment.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
71. “All I need is a sheet of paper and something to write with, and then I can turn the world upside down.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
72. “It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
73. “Without forgetting it is quite impossible to live at all.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
74. “Invisible threads are the strongest ties.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
75. “Whenever I climb I am followed by a dog called ‘Ego’.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
76. “What is the seal of liberation? Not to be ashamed in front of oneself.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
77. “You great star, what would your happiness be had you not those for whom you shine?” – Friedrich Nietzsche
78. “Whatever has its price has little value.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
79. “Experience, as a desire for experience, does not come off. We must not study ourselves while having an experience.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
80. “Shared joys make a friend, not shared sufferings.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
81. “The doer alone learneth.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
82. “Nobody is more inferior than those who insist on being equal.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
83. “One can promise actions, but not feelings, for the latter are involuntary. He who promises to love forever or hate forever or be forever faithful to someone is promising something that is not in his power.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
84. “Call me whatever you like; I am who I must be.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
85. “So long as men praise you, you can only be sure that you are not yet on your own true path but on someone else’s.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
86. “No journey is too great, when one finds what one seeks.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
87. “You know a moment is important when it is making your mind go numb with beauty.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
88. “Life is the will to power; our natural desire to dominate and reshape the world to fit our own preferences and assert our personal strength to the fullest degree.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes About Love
89. “We love life, not because we are used to living but because we are used to loving.” – Friedrich Nietzsche (This is one of the most famous Friedrich Nietzsche quotes on love.)
90. “Love your enemies because they bring out the best in you.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
91. “Amor Fati – “Love Your Fate”, which is in fact your life.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
92. “Love is not consolation. It is light.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
93. “There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
94. “What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
95. “The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, as the most dangerous plaything.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
96. “Love is blind; friendship closes its eyes.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
97. “When marrying, ask yourself this question: Do you believe that you will be able to converse well with this person into your old age? Everything else in marriage is transitory.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
98. “Marriage: that I call the will of two to create the one who is more than those who created it.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
99. “The best friend is likely to acquire the best wife, because a good marriage is based on the talent for friendship.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
100. “It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
101. “Love is a state in which a man sees things most decidedly as they are not.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
102. “A pair of powerful spectacles has sometimes sufficed to cure a person in love.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
103. “This is the hardest of all: to close the open hand out of love, and keep modest as a giver.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
104. “Ultimately, it is the desire, not the desired, that we love.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
105. “One must learn to love oneself with a wholesome and healthy love, so that one can bear to be with oneself and need not roam.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes About Truth
106. “Truths are illusions which we have forgotten are illusions.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
107. “What is the truth, but a lie agreed upon.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
108. “There are no eternal facts, as there are no absolute truths.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
109. “There are no facts, only interpretations.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
110. “Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truths than lies.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
111. “All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
112. “The most common lie is that which one lies to himself; lying to others is relatively an exception.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
113. “The more abstract the truth you want to teach, the more thoroughly you must seduce the senses to accept it.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche Quotes About Art
114. “Art is the proper task of life.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
115. “One must give value to their existence by behaving as if ones very existence were a work of art.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
116. “The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
117. “Art is essentially the affirmation, the blessing, and the deification of existence.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
118. “Admiration for a quality or an art can be so strong that it deters us from striving to possess it.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
119. “Sleeping is no mean art: for its sake one must stay awake all day.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Quotes About Loneliness, Individuality & Solitude
120. “Loneliness is one thing, solitude another.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
121. “My solitude doesn’t depend on the presence or absence of people; on the contrary, I hate who steals my solitude without, in exchange, offering me true company.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
122. “In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs, it is the rule.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
123. “Morality is the herd-instinct in the individual.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
124. “We are always in our own company.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
125. “Solitude makes us tougher towards ourselves and tenderer towards others. In both ways it improves our character.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
126. “When a hundred men stand together, each of them loses his mind and gets another one.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
127. “The lonely one offers his hand too quickly to whomever he encounters.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
128. “No one can construct for you the bridge upon which precisely you must cross the stream of life, no one but you yourself alone.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
129. “Do you want to have an easy life? Then always stay with the herd and lose yourself in the herd.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
130. “In loneliness, the lonely one eats himself; in a crowd, the many eat him. Now choose.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
131. “The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
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