Friedrich Nietzsche: Greatness

“Only great pain is the ultimate liberator of the spirit….
I doubt that such pain makes us ‘better’; but I know that it makes us more profound.”

“My formula for greatness in a human being is … that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity.
Not merely bear what is necessary, …but love it.”

“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.”

“Hope, in its stronger forms, is a great deal more powerful stimulans to life than any sort of realized joy can ever be.”

“I know of no better life purpose than to perish in attempting the great and the impossible.”

“Man is something that shall be overcome. Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman - a rope over an abyss. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end.”

“Two great European narcotics, alcohol and Christianity.”

“A subject for a great poet would be God's boredom after the seventh day of creation.”

“All great things must first wear terrifying and monstrous masks in order to inscribe themselves on the hearts of humanity.”

“The spiritualization of sensuality is called love: it is a great triumph over Christianity.”

“You say 'I' and you are proud of this word. But greater than this- although you will not believe in it - is your body and its great intelligence, which does not say 'I' but performs 'I'.”

“In the end things must be as they are and have always been--the great things remain for the great, the abysses for the profound, the delicacies and thrills for the refined, and, to sum up shortly, everything rare for the rare.”

“The essence of all beautiful art, all great art, is gratitude.”

“One sticks to an opinion because he prides himself on having come to it on his own, and another because he has taken great pains to learn it and is proud to have grasped it: and so both do so out of vanity.”

“Success has always been a great liar”

“I love the great despisers because they are the great adorers…”

“Oh great star! What would your happiness be if you did not have us to shine for?”

“Pity is the most agreeable feeling among those who have little pride and no prospects of great conquests.”

“A nation is a detour of nature to arrive at five or six great men- yes, and then to get around them.”