Friedrich Nietzsche

In almost all sciences the fundamental knowledge is either found in earliest times or is still being sought.

Partial knowledge is more triumphant than complete knowledge; it takes things to be simpler than they are, and so makes its theory more popular and convincing.

To think historically is almost the same thing now as if in all ages history had been made according to theory.

The Refinement of Shame. People are not ashamed to think something foul, but they are ashamed when they think these foul thoughts are attributed to them.

It is only because man believes himself to be free, not because he is free, that he experiences remorse and pricks of conscience.

One unconsciously takes it for granted that doer and sufferer think and feel alike, and according to this supposition we measure the guilt of the one by the pain of the other.

We are more pained when one of our friends is guilty of something shameful than when we do it ourselves.

Whoever thinks much and to good purpose easily forgets his own experiences, but not the thoughts which these experiences have called forth.

Without the errors which lie in the assumption of morality, man would have remained an animal.

Compulsion precedes morality, indeed morality itself is compulsion for a time, to which one submits for the avoidance of pain.

To be moral, correct, and virtuous is to be obedient to an old established law and custom.

Insects sting, not from malice, but because they want to live. It is the same with critics; they desire our blood not our pain.

Praise is more obtrusive than a reproach.

Whoever gives advice to a sick person acquires a feeling of superiority over him, whether the advice be accepted or rejected.

Every master has but one disciple, and that one becomes unfaithful to him, for he too is destined for master-ship.

Everyone becomes brave when he observes one who despairs.

A book is made better by good readers and clearer by good opponents.

All great men are play actors of their own ideal.

All of life is a dispute over taste and tasting.

Anecdote: Greatness Means Leading the Way. No stream is large and copious of itself, but becomes great by receiving and leading on so many tributary streams. It is so, also, with all intellectual greatness, It is only a question of someone indicating the direction to be followed by so many affluent; not whether he was richly or poorly gifted originally.

There is sense in hoping for recognition in a distant future only when we take it for granted that mankind will remain essentially unchanged, and that whatever is great is not for one age only but will be looked upon as great for all time.